Lloyds Bank has revealed that “hundreds” of Oasis fans have been hit by scammers, with an average of £346 being lost per person according to the bank’s data. Many have been swindled out of far higher amounts.
It seems that these originated online, most coming via fake adverts and social media posts that cropped up during or after the bunfight for Oasis tickets in late August/early September. Fans are instructed to pay upfront for tickets and then, mysteriously, the seller disappears.
More than nine in 10 of the cases reported by the Lloyds group – which includes Halifax and Bank Of Scotland - started online, with the “vast majority” originating on Facebook, which includes Facebook Marketplace.
“A simple search of Facebook reveals numerous unofficial groups have been set up, many boasting tens of thousands of members, dedicated to buying and selling tickets for the Oasis tour. This is despite Meta’s own commerce policy stating that the sale of concert tickets is ‘not allowed’ on the platform,” said a bank spokesperson.
According to Lloyds’ data, on the day Oasis tickets went online (August 31) the amounts spent on concert tickets “soared”. Fans spent an average of £563 per debit card transaction on one of the UK’s biggest ticket-selling sites. By way of a comparison on the day tickets for Taylor Swift’s Eras tour went on sale that figure was just £342.
Lloyds fraud prevention director, Liz Ziegler said: “Predictably fraudsters wasted no time in targeting loyal Oasis fans as they scrambled to pick up tickets for next year’s must-see reunion tour.”
“Buying directly from reputable, authorised retailers is the only way to guarantee you’re paying for a genuine ticket. If you’re asked to pay via bank transfer, particularly by a seller you’ve found on social media, that should immediately set alarm bells ringing.”
Lloyds have warned that these sort of ticket scams tend to occur in two waves – the first when tickets are released for sale, and the second as the event date approaches.
Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, have issued a statement saying that it was “committed to protecting our users from fraudulent activities”, adding that it advised users to report posts they thought might be a scam so that it could take action.
One thing worth bearing in mind is that Lloyds’ data only goes up to September 25 - the bank have said that the number of online Oasis scammers is likely to be even higher now.
