Music fans targeted in eBay scam

MUSIC fans are being warned to be wary of purchasing concert tickets from eBay after yet another scam involving the online auction site emerged.

Wembley Arena has seen an upsurge in would-be audience members who have purchased tickets for shows from the site turning up to collect non-existent tickets from the box office.

Sellers tell auction winners to collect tickets from venue box offices but fail to send them.

Tickets have also been sold to more than one purchaser at a time. Three different purchasers turned up to collect one set of tickets at a recent Phil Collins concert, while 60 Madonna fans who bought tickets from eBay at inflated prices were denied entry to one of her gigs.

The problem has grown to such an extent that Wembley Arena is considering invalidating any tickets advertised on the site for any of its events.

Wembley Limited director of sales and marketing Peter Tudor said: 'We will go on to eBay, see who is selling the ticket, refund the original purchaser and put the ticket back on to sale.'

He added: 'Fans are buying these tickets at over-inflated prices and getting conned. The Madonna tickets were £150 each face value so you can imagine what they were being sold for in auction.

'Fans turn up at the box office and we have to deal with it.'

The scam is the latest in a series to hit eBay. British users have been targeted by a con known as 'second chance' where people who have lost out in an auction are sent an email offering them a second chance to buy the goods.

But when they click on a link in the email, they are taken to a hacker's website where their credit card details are stolen.

Because the hacker's site looks identical to eBay - which runs a legitimate second chance service - many are fooled by the scam.

A teenager from South Wales also recently admitted to stealing £45,000 by selling non-existent electronic equipment to eBay users.

An eBay spokeswoman said: 'In the case of the non-delivery of tickets, eBay firstly urges buyers to communicate with the seller directly. Many problems are just simple misunderstandings.'

Users can also apply for a reimbursement of up to £105 under the international Buyer Protection Program.

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