SINGAPORE, July 6 — At least 462 victims have fallen victim to a scam involving the sale of concert tickets, with total losses amounting to at least S$480,000 (RM1.7 million) since January this year.

In a press statement today, the police said that they have seen a resurgence of this scam variant, with popular international acts such as British band Coldplay and American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift coming to Singapore to perform.

"The police would like to remind the public to be discerning when shopping online, especially when purchasing concert tickets from online third-party resellers," they added.

The police did not mention how many concerts are involved but screenshots they provided showed acts such as Taylor Swift, South Korean girl groups Twice and IVE featuring in the scammers' advertisements.

In this scam variant, the victims would come across advertisements for concert tickets on e-commerce or social media platforms such as Carousell, Xiaohongshu, Facebook, Telegram and Twitter.

They would then approach the scammers through the individual platform’s in-app messaging function. In some cases, they were redirected to messaging apps such as WhatsApp, Telegram, or WeChat to purchase the tickets.

When asked for proof of authenticity of the tickets, the scammers would provide screenshots and videos of fake tickets or receipts.

The scammers would claim that ticket sales were time-sensitive or limited in quantity, and urge victims into making payment quickly, usually through virtual credits such as iTunes, PayNow or bank transfers.

They would also promise to email or transfer the tickets to the victims’ Ticketmaster account after successful payment.

Ticketmaster is a website that provides booking and ticketing services for the arts and entertainment industry, including concerts.

In some cases, the scammers would also request for additional payments, citing reasons such as not receiving the payments sent by the victims.

Once the payments were received, the scammers would delay the delivery of tickets, claiming that they were unable to transfer the tickets to the victims, and then become uncontactable.

Victims who received tickets via email or WhatsApp would realise that they have been scammed when they found that tickets are invalid on the day of the concerts, or when the scammers refuse to provide the physical tickets.

The police advised members of public to:

• Enable security features such as a two-factor authentication for their bank accounts
• Do not purchase tickets from third-party resellers. Purchase only from authorised sellers and legitimate ticket marketplaces or resellers, such as Ticketmaster
• Use "escrow” payment options that protect buyers by releasing payment to the seller only upon delivery and avoid making advance payments or direct bank transfers as this method does not offer any protection to buyers
• Check for scam signs and official sources. Arrange for a physical meet-up with the seller to verify the authenticity of the physical tickets prior to making payment
• Warn others about such scams and report the fraudulent advertisements to the social media and e-commerce platforms

They may visit www.scamalert.sg or call the anti-scam helpline at 1800-722-6688 for more information on scams.

Anyone with information about such scams may contact the police at 1800-255-0000 or submit information online to www.police.gov.sg/iwitness. — TODAY