Visiting mum warns of online ticket rorts

A VISITING mother is warning people not to be duped by online company Viagogo after she paid five times more for tickets to the hockey.

Melbourne mother Karen, who did not want her surname published, said she felt sick to her stomach after she paid $417 for four tickets to the hockey.

After getting to the venue yesterday, she found out she could have bought the tickets for as little as $20 each.

She said she thought the seller was authorised because the Viagogo online advertisement appeared at the top of a Google searches. “I wanted it to be a secret, so I tried to buy the tickets without my boys seeing.

“Viagogo are taking advantage of the fact people don’t want to miss out. I don’t want this to happen to others.”

Consumer advocate group Choice last year outlined the tactic of outbidding authorised ticket outlets for top spots in Google results. It found twothirds of people often could not tell if the website they were using was official.

Viagogo is being pursued by the competition watchdog for allegedly jacking up prices for a number of major events.