Greedy Ticketmaster’s shameful response after customers’ expensive tickets were stolen by fraudsters

Ticketmaster executives have issued a disgraceful response to customers who complained that their expensive tickets were stolen by fraudsters.

In recent weeks, angry fans have spoken out, saying tickets they bought months ago for concerts and sporting events were suddenly transferred to another, unknown account.

They each described spending hours trying to reach a company representative to get their tickets back before events, but rarely receiving help.

Now company managers are accusing customers of not creating strong passwords.

This callous response comes months after a hacking group stole the data of 560 million customers – an incident for which Ticketmaster is now being sued.

Ticketmaster executives say those who have seen their tickets transferred to fraudsters simply need to reset their passwords. Pictured: Michael Rapino, CEO of Live Nation Entertainment Inc, the parent company of Ticketmaster

Among those who spoke out about scammers stealing their valuable tickets was Blaine Heck, 36. She told DailyMail.com that she was given $3,500 tickets to a Taylor Swift concert in New Orleans as a birthday present got it – only to find out that scammers had broken into their online account and transferred them out.

She said she accepted the tickets to her account and found out through an email that they had been transferred to another account the next day.

She said she immediately contacted Ticketmaster, who told her “the issue could take up to a week to resolve – with no guarantees.”

“This situation has left me incredibly frustrated, and after speaking to others, I’ve realized that this happens far too often, especially as we get closer to Taylor’s upcoming tour dates in the US,” she explained.

Ticketmaster has since suspended ticket transfers for all remaining Eras Tour shows until three days before each event, the Toronto Star reports.

But the problem doesn’t just affect Swifties.

After tickets to Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour were stolen, Ticketmaster has suspended ticket transfers until three days before each event

California-based ticket holder Sydney Rosa, 27, said she also had her $1,200 tickets to an Oct. 3 Pink concert in New Jersey stolen.

She called Ticketmaster within an hour of discovering the fraudulent transfer, but a representative told her it would take 48 hours to escalate the case.

“I called again about an hour later that day because I saw that the scammer had put the tickets he had stolen from my account back on the resale market on Ticketmaster. They confirmed they had seen it and said I just had to wait for a call back,” Rosa told DailyMail.com.

Two days later, she called Ticketmaster again and spoke with a different representative who told her she had been “given misinformation” and that it would take three to five business days for the company to “find a solution.”

After waiting five business days, she still hadn’t received a response. So she called again and was again told she would have to wait three to five business days.

“(The agent) was extremely unhelpful like all Ticketmasters because they don’t care, they have my money,” Rosa said.

Annoyed, she resorted to LinkedIn and wrote a message to Ticketmaster’s global head of resales, who returned her tickets.

“It’s still ridiculous because who knows what would have happened if I hadn’t gone that extreme route,” Rosa said.

“I was lucky, but obviously others weren’t so lucky.”

Sydney Rosa, 27, said her $1,200 tickets to a Pink concert in New Jersey were stolen

Rosa called Ticketmaster several times and continued to speak with them on the phone for over an hour after her tickets were stolen

Mason Snyder of North Carolina said he even changed his password but still ran into a problem with scammers stealing his $350 Post Malone tickets.

“Last Thursday I was sitting in my office and I got an email that said, ‘Your ticket transfer has been initiated.’ And I said, ‘I don’t think I have any tickets listed,'” he told WCNC.

“So I logged in, canceled the transfer and changed my password, but after the third attempt I was kicked out,” Snyder said.

“Immediately afterwards I received another email saying that the ticket transfer had been re-initiated and completed. “And when I came back in, the tickets were gone.”

He said he waited on the phone with a customer service representative for a total of five hours.

“I tried to find a supervisor and they said it would take 24 to 48 hours and they would call me back,” Snyder explained. “They never contacted me back then.”

Rosa’s tickets to the Pink concert were returned after she messaged Ticketmaster’s global head of resale operations on LinkedIn

In a statement, Ticketmaster told the local news station: “Overall, our digital ticketing innovations have significantly reduced fraud compared to the days of paper tickets and duplicate PDFs.”

“Thanks to this digital history, we are also able to investigate the situation and restore fans’ tickets.”

“Fans can best protect themselves by setting a strong, unique password for all accounts, particularly their personal email addresses, which we often see create security issues,” a company spokesperson continued.

“Scammers are looking for new scammers in every industry and tickets will always be a target because they are valuable. That’s why Ticketmaster continues to invest in new security improvements to keep fans safe.”

Customers say the company needs to do more to protect their purchases as Ticketmaster faces a class-action lawsuit over a massive data breach earlier this year

However, those whose tickets were stolen argue that the company needs to do more to protect its customers.

Angela Perdue, who purchased Usher tickets that disappeared just hours before the concert, suggested that Ticketmaster should do more to identify unauthorized ticket transfers.

“I should have received some sort of notification before someone stole my tickets,” she told NBC DFW. “I should have received a notification on my phone, just like I receive the tickets on my phone.”

Megan Clouse, who bought tickets to see Taylor Swift last year, also said she wants Ticketmaster to offer multifactor authentication.

“When I log into my email from my husband’s phone, I have so many options to confirm my identity.” I get text messages, emails, and so on.

“But for that? There was nothing.’

This criticism comes as Ticketmaster is also facing a class action lawsuit over a massive data breach by hacker group ShinyHunters earlier this year, according to Rolling Stone.

The hacking group claimed it obtained the personal information of 560 million accounts through a third-party cloud data company – including names, addresses, phone numbers and limited credit card information – and extorted a $500,000 ransom.

The lawsuit, filed Friday in federal court in California, alleges the breach was a “direct result of (Ticketmaster’s) failure to implement reasonable and appropriate privacy practices.”

It says the breach was “preventable” and argues that the company “could and should have taken several preventive measures to combat hacker attacks.”

But Ticketmaster executives said no user passwords were leaked and told customers their site was safe to use again.

“Our comprehensive investigation – together with leading cybersecurity experts and relevant authorities – has determined that there has been no further unauthorized activity,” a spokesperson told USA Today.

The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages, as well as legal fees and other penalties.

DailyMail.com has reached out to Ticketmaster for comment.