Fake ticket websites: how to buy concert and event tickets safely

The concert sold out in minutes. The final is next week. The festival you wanted to go to has "a few tickets left" on a website you've never heard of. Ticket scams thrive on exactly this moment: demand is high, official sales are over and people are willing to pay more than face value to be there.

Some fake ticket sites deliver nothing. Others sell real-looking tickets that have already been sold to several people, or that were cancelled. Either way, you find out at the entrance. Here's how to avoid that.

Where ticket scams happen

• Fake ticket websites that imitate official sellers or invent a "ticket exchange" with a professional look
• Search ads for "[artist] tickets" that lead to unofficial resellers or outright fakes ranked above the real seller
• Social media posts and groups where someone "can't go any more" and wants to sell their tickets
• Marketplace listings and classified ads asking for payment by bank transfer
• Fake event pages for festivals or events that don't exist at all, or not on those dates

Who is allowed to sell tickets

Start with the event itself. The artist, the team, the venue or the festival almost always says on its official website or app where tickets are sold. That list is your safest starting point.

• Primary sellers are the official ticket agents named by the organiser.
• Official resale is increasingly built in: many organisers and ticket agents run their own fan-to-fan resale with price caps and secure ticket transfer.
• Secondary marketplaces are independent resale platforms. Some offer buyer guarantees, but prices can be far above face value, and some events don't allow resale at all.
• Private sellers are the riskiest. You have no way to check whether a ticket is genuine or has been sold several times.

In the UK, members of the Society of Ticket Agents and Retailers (STAR) follow a code of practice, and checking membership is one useful test for a seller you don't know.

Warning signs of a fake ticket website

• The event is sold out everywhere else, but this site still has plenty of tickets, often in the best seats.
• The domain combines the event name with words like tickets, official, live or 2026, and doesn't belong to the organiser or a known ticket agent.
• The domain is very new. Fake ticket sites are often registered shortly before a big event. Every websurely.com report shows how long a website has existed.
• No company details: no named company, no address, no registration number, just a contact form.
• Payment by bank transfer, crypto or gift card, or card payment that "fails" so you have to pay another way.
• Prices that don't make sense: either far below face value for an in-demand event, or wildly inflated with fees only revealed at the end.
• Pressure: countdown timers, "3 people are looking at these seats", "reserve now or lose them".
• Vague delivery promises: "tickets will be sent a few days before the event". Sometimes this is normal for official sellers, but combined with the other signs it means you won't find out about the fraud until it's too late.

Buying from a person, not a website

If you're buying a ticket from someone on social media or a marketplace:

• Ask how the ticket will be transferred. Many tickets today are mobile tickets that can only be transferred inside the official ticketing app. If the seller wants to send a screenshot or a PDF instead, the same ticket may have been sold to others.
• Check the profile. A brand-new account, comments switched off or a profile that has posted "spare tickets" for many different events is a warning.
• Never pay by bank transfer or "Friends and Family". Use a payment method with buyer protection, and preferably the event's official resale platform.
• Be wary of a story. "I'm abroad", "my friend got sick", "I need the money today" all create pressure.
• Search the phone number, username or e-mail address together with "scam".

How to pay safely for tickets

Paying by credit card gives you the best chance to get money back if the tickets never arrive or turn out to be fake. Card issuers can raise a chargeback; time limits vary but are often around 120 days from the payment or the event date. Check with your bank. In the UK, purchases on a credit card between £100 and £30,000 also benefit from Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act.

PayPal Buyer Protection may cover goods paid for as a purchase, but check whether it applies to event tickets in your country and situation; payments sent as "Friends and Family" are generally not protected. More details are in our guide How to get your money back after an online scam.

A quick checklist before you buy

• I found the seller through the event's official website or app.
• The website's domain belongs to the organiser or a known ticket agent.
• The domain isn't brand new, and a scam check shows no serious warnings.
• The seller names a real company with an address.
• I'm paying by credit card or another method with buyer protection.
• The ticket will be transferred through an official app or system.
• The price and seat make sense for this event.

For a broader version of this checklist, read How to check if a website is legit.

What to do if you've been sold fake tickets

1. Contact your card issuer or payment provider straight away and ask about a chargeback or claim. Explain that the tickets were not delivered or were invalid.
2. Contact the official ticket agent or organiser. If the tickets were invalid, they can sometimes confirm this in writing, which helps your claim.
3. Collect evidence: the website address, your order confirmation, messages with the seller and the ticket files.
4. Report it to the police and to your national fraud reporting service. In the UK that's Action Fraud for England, Wales and Northern Ireland; in the US, the FTC at reportfraud.ftc.gov. More countries are listed in How to report a scam website.
5. Report the site on websurely.com so other fans get a warning before they buy.

If you've lost money, our step-by-step guide What to do if you've been scammed online covers the first hour and the days after.

Big events attract big scams

Major tournaments, stadium tours and festivals reliably attract a wave of new ticket domains in the weeks before. Check sites even if they look professional and appear high up in search results. The free websurely.com browser extension shows a risk rating for every site you visit, so you notice a brand-new, unknown ticket site before you reach the checkout.

Check a website now

Found tickets on a site you don't know? Check the website on websurely.com before you pay. It's free and takes a few seconds.