Chasing the summer’s hottest sold out tickets? Here’s how to avoid getting scammed

Summer is peak memory-making season.

It’s when the group chat starts buzzing about festivals, al fresco concerts and big sporting events. You refresh the ticket page, you panic-buy snacks for the queue, and you tell yourself you’ll worry about the budget later.

But when tickets sell out in seconds, it can be very tempting to grab whatever pops up next. And acting in FOMO is the exact thing scammers are counting on.

Ticket scams tend to spike in the summer because demand is high, emotions are running hot, and nobody wants to be the person who misses out. But a fake ticket isn’t just disappointing - it can leave you out of pocket and standing outside a venue while everyone else heads in.

The good news is that a lot of scams follow predictable patterns. Once you know what to look for, they become much easier to spot. The ticket scams catching people out right now

Ticket scams have become much more sophisticated in recent years, particularly on social media.

You might see a post in a Facebook group from someone saying they can no longer attend an event and need to sell their tickets. The story sounds believable, the profile looks genuine – you can even click through to see ‘real’ posts, and the price feels reasonable.

But many of these scams are carefully constructed.

Some scammers clone real accounts or hack them entirely, so the person messaging you appears to be a normal member of the community. Others work in teams, with fake buyers leaving comments like “Still available?” or “I bought from them before - totally legit,” to build trust and create urgency.

In some cases, they’ll even send what looks like a genuine ticket or confirmation email, complete with logos and barcodes. The ticket might look perfect on your phone, but it won’t scan at the gate.

That’s why it’s worth pausing, even when everything seems convincing.

Why paying with a card can make a real difference

When you’re trying to secure tickets for a popular event, it feels like speed matters. But how you pay matters just as much. We recommend only ever buying from legitimate ticket sources, if you do choose to risk it on a private sale, there are some tips to make it as secure as possible.

Paying with a debit or credit card can give you an extra layer of protection if something goes wrong. It doesn’t stop scams from happening, but it can make recovering your money much easier.

Here’s what card payments can offer:

• A better chance of getting your money back Credit cards, and many debit cards, allow you to raise a dispute if tickets don’t arrive or turn out to be fake. In some cases, purchases made on a credit card may be covered under Section 75 protection. Do not rely on this and let this overcome common sense.

• A clear transaction record Card payments create a detailed trail, which helps banks investigate and support your claim.

• Faster action if something goes wrong If you contact your bank quickly, they may be able to stop or recover the payment.

By contrast, bank transfers and friends-and-family payments are much harder to reverse and harder to trace, especially once the money has left your account. That’s why scammers often push for those methods – if they’re insisting on this, it’s a red flag.

Five signs your ticket seller isn’t genuine

They insist on bank transfer or “friends and family” payment

This is one of the biggest warning signs, because those payments are much harder to recover.

They rush you to make a decision

Phrases like “someone else is about to buy” or “I need payment now” are designed to create pressure.

The tickets are suddenly available for a sold-out event

Especially if the price feels unusually good.

The seller won’t use an official resale platform

Legitimate sellers are usually happy to use secure, recognised channels.

Something just doesn’t feel right

Trusting your instincts is often one of the strongest forms of protection.

Enjoy the summer - just keep your guard up, you want summer jams not summer scams

Summer should be about good music, big laughs, and stories you’ll still be telling in September. A quick pause before you pay is often all it takes to make sure the only surprise on the day is how good the event turns out to be, and the only exposure to a rip off is how much they’re charging for a pint.

Don’t lose hope if tickets sell out

When tickets disappear in seconds, it can feel like that was your only chance. But in reality, more tickets often become available as the event gets closer. Extra dates are sometimes added when demand is high, and legitimate resale tickets do tend to appear when people’s plans change.

Venues also regularly release what are known as production seats - tickets that were previously held back because of staging, equipment, or sightline concerns. Once the final layout is confirmed, those seats can suddenly go on sale.

So if you miss out the first time around, it doesn’t mean the door is closed. Sometimes it just means you need to wait.

I nearly gave up on seeing Taylor Swift - until four days before the show

I spent months refreshing ticket sites, signing up for waiting lists, and quietly accepting that it probably wasn’t going to happen. I hovered my cursor over too-good-to-be-true Facebook posts, and put extortionate resale tickets into my basket, then came to my senses and took them out again.

Then, completely out of the blue, an email dropped into my inbox from AXS: “Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour – Wembley Stadium, London – More Tickets Released.” I had signed up to the waiting list with absolutely no expectations over a year earlier. And suddenly, four days before the show, I had a chance.

The message explained that a limited number of production hold tickets had been released. These are often seats that organisers initially think might be borderline unsellable – behind a pillar or even behind the stage. As with anything Swift-related, they knew people would go for it. And they were right.

I moved so quickly to get the tickets into my basket that I didn’t even check the seat numbers. Honestly, I would have stood in the toilets at Wembley and listened through a cup on a string just to be there. When I told people I’d only paid £65, the reaction was immediate: “Those seats will be terrible.”

I checked the details and, yes, they were technically behind the stage. But a quick search online showed there were screens for my section, and suddenly it didn’t matter at all.

Because the point was simple. I got in. Legitimately. At face value. And it happened because I stayed patient and stuck with official channels.Good luck!