Bank warns consumers over ticketing scams ahead of summer of events

The National Australia Bank has warned consumers to be aware of social media scams that offer tickets to high-profile sold-out concerts over the coming months.

After more than $200,000 worth of transactions were abandoned a day, the bank advised on Thursday that alert prompts - introduced into its banking app and online banking site in March - were warning customers of the dangers of being scammed

With the alerts expanded to cover ticket and marketplace scams, NAB’s Manager for Security Advisory and Awareness, Laura Hartley, said those responding to fans on social media seeking a ticket were often scammers, and people should be “extremely cautious” about buying tickets from social media, even if it was from a friend, and instead look to official resellers.

Hartley stated “we’re hearing about criminals hacking social media profiles and selling bogus concert tickets to the account owner’s friends, who aren’t aware someone else is controlling the account.

“Even if it’s a friend you legitimately know, pick up the phone and talk to them directly before sending money.”

With online goods and services scams understood to be costing Australians almost $40 million a year, according to data submitted to the government's ScamWatch service, one of the latest scams has seen Australians' Facebook accounts being hacked and their identities to sell fake Taylor Swift tickets to scores of fans who missed out on actual tickets.

NAB’s alerts present customers with a real-time alert in the NAB app or NAB internet banking if a payment shows signs it could be a scam.

The bank is also launching a series of new ads warning Australians about ticket scams across platforms including Spotify, Gumtree and Facebook Marketplace.

With ScamWatch data showing millennials are the most likely group to lose money to buying and selling scams, Hartley noted “scammers play on our FOMO (fear of missing out) for concert tickets, often responding to fans who post on social media looking for tickets or listing bogus ones online that don't actually exist.

"While many customers ultimately complete their payment after receiving an alert, we know they are stopping and pausing because we see around $220,000 worth of payments abandoned daily."

Hartley went on to advise "contact your bank immediately if you think you've been scammed." 

Federal Assistant Treasurer, Stephen Jones, revealed on Thursday that since July, the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) had taken down or blocked access to more than 2,500 scam investment or phishing websites, using Netcraft automated scam detection systems trialled in 2022, which saw more than 5,500 websites blocked in a three-week period.