CHARLOTTE, N.C. — People across the Carolinas are securing their tickets for the Concert for Carolina at Bank of America Stadium, helping those impacted by Helene. But this online traction is a scammer's playground.
WCNC Charlotte spoke with a Charlotte couple who is warning people of ticket fraud after an unfortunate event happened to them.
Mason Snyder headed to Ticketmaster to purchase tickets to see Post Malone in Charlotte.
"We got really excited," Snyder said. "Got some seats for me and my wife. My tickets were probably about $300 to $350 for the two of them. We were really looking forward to going to the show."
He thought nothing of it, but then something unexpected happened.
"Last Thursday, I was sitting in my office and got an email that said 'your ticket transfer had been initiated'. And I said I don’t think I listed any tickets," Snyder said. "So I logged in and canceled the transfer and changed my password, but I was kicked out after the third time trying. Right after that, I got another email that the ticket transfer had been initiated again and completed. And by the time I got back in, the tickets were gone.”
He said he contacted Ticketmaster and it was not easy. He said he waited on the phone for a total of five hours.
"I tried to go the path of getting a supervisor and they said it would take 24 to 48 hours and they’d call me back," Snyder said. "They never got back to me at the time."
He said he went and checked his app the day of the concert and his tickets were loaded into his account.
"I got an email the day after the concert saying hey we got your tickets back to you, Snyder said. "I guess, thanks for the late notice."
Ticketmaster sent WCNC Charlotte a statement when asked about this:
Overall, our digital ticketing innovations have greatly reduced fraud compared to the days of paper tickets and duplicated PDFs. Having that digital history is also how we are able to investigate the situation and restore fans’ tickets. The top way fans can protect themselves is setting a strong unique password for all accounts – especially for their personal email which is where we often see security issues originate. Scammers are looking for new cheats across every industry, and tickets will always be a target because they are valuable, so Ticketmaster is constantly investing in new security enhancements to safeguard fans.
"I changed my password to something so secure that no one better find out what that password is," Snyder added.
Contact Austin Walker at awalker@wcnc.com and follow him on Facebook, X and Instagram.