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National Australia Bank (NAB) has warned patrons over ticket scams ahead of another busy summer for the country.
The bank has introduced more proactive alerts for digital banking to help music-lovers identify potential ticket scams. These alerts were originally introduced earlier this year, but have now been expanded to target ticket and marketplace scams.
This type of scam falls under the goods and services scam category, which has lost Australians A$36m (£19m/€22m/$23m) in 2023 alone, according to the Australian Government’s National Anti-Scam Centre.
NAB has further launched new advertisements warning Australians around ticket scams across platforms such as Spotify, Gumtree and Facebook Marketplace.
“Scammers play on our FOMO (fear of missing out) for concert tickets, often responding to fans who post on social media looking for tickets or listing bogus ones online that don’t actually exist,” said NAB manager of security advisory and awareness, Laura Hartley.
“While many customers ultimately complete their payment after receiving an alert, we know they are stopping and pausing because we see around A$220,000 worth of payments abandoned daily.”
Hartley added: “Be extremely cautious about buying tickets online via social media. We’re hearing about criminals hacking social media profiles and selling bogus concert tickets to the account owner’s friends, who aren’t aware someone else is controlling the account. Even if it’s a friend you legitimately know, pick up the phone and talk to them directly before sending money.
“Contact your bank immediately if you think you’ve been scammed.”
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