Festival Promoters To Tackle Ticket Fraud
Live Nation and Festival Republic announce measures to beat festival ticket fraud in the UK
According to the BBC the two huge festival promoters have revealed that they will now send out tickets as soon as they are sold, rather than wait until close to the event. The move is intended to tackle the estimated £168m of ticket fraud that happens each year in the UK, which is caused in part by the fact that a delay allows fraudulent websites to claim to have purchased tickets without having to prove that they have them first.
The delay allows these fraudster websites to claim that their ticket supplier let them down, or they simply vanish shortly before the festival is due to take place. The new system means that people can buy tickets early and, if the tickets are not received, they can contact the police or the festival promoter well in advance of the festival.
Det Ch Supt Steve Head, from the City of London Police, says promoters' delay in the sending of tickets makes it difficult to prove fraud, and that printing the tickets earlier could be the key.
"We believe that would stop a lot of people being the victims because we'd be able to act on it quicker, convicting the kind of people we want to convict," he added.
"It's not about business; they are fraudsters"