FRAUDS T-OUTED
Viagogo buyers get fake letter
BY MARK McGIVERN & GARY ARMSTRONG TOUTS who used Viagogo to sell dud Ed Sheeran tickets plotted to derail the singer’s ticketing blitz.
Hundreds of scam letters were sent from scalpers to customers, urging them to bypass the anti-tout measures put in place, which stand to cost greedy resellers more than £1million.
Some poorly written letters were signed “From Viagogo” – but the site refused to tell the Record if they were in on the scam or not.
Every illegally-sold Viagogo ticket cancelled by Sheeran’s security team triggered a refund guarantee to the customers who were duped.
While that has been great news for those who spent up to five times the face value of £75 tickets, the measure has been a disaster for touts, who are being forced to give refunds – losing their investment.
Their greed led to desperate tactics, with a host of letters being sent out, with some having the gall to accuse Sheeran of being the one operating a scam.
Yesterday, it emerged that Viagogo were falling in line with their legal obligation to pay out on invalid transactions, with some customers getting confirmation of refunds within 80 minutes of contacting them by email.
The site were also sending vouchers for half the value of the original transaction as they try to grab some kind of credibility after the PR disaster caused by Sheeran’s dogged crackdown.
RAF technician Rob Knowles, from Elgin, spent more than £400 on tickets for him and wife Debbie.
He said: “I got tickets through then this letter popped up, supposedly from Viagogo, that had the cheek to say that the Victim of Viagogo initiative was a scam.
“The letter was advising me to try to sneak in but if I’d done that, I wouldn’t be due any refund.
“In the end, I was given the chance to pay £75 each for two face value tickets and after my refund, I’ll be nearly £300 better off, so it’s a brilliant result.
“I couldn’t fault Ed Sheeran for doing this. Viagogo will think twice about behaving like this the next time a big artist goes to these efforts to stop people selling on tickets.”
The letter, claiming to be from Viagogo, stated: “Please note that if anyone comes up to you before you enter the stadium and says did you buy from Viagogo and that your tickets would be void, ignore them – this is a scam. Ignore any signs for Viagogo customers around the stadium.
“Just go straight to your turnstile number printed on your tickets (NOT this letter) and they will let you in. Enjoy the show. It should be great. Thanks you [sic], Viagogo.”
Other letters were sent with fake headings, claiming to be from promoters AEG or the official face value resale agents Twickets.
Investigator Reg Walker, of the Iridium Consultancy, said: “The people sending the letters are trying to coerce people to seek entry to concerts when they have invalid tickets, in order to protect their investment, which was illegal from the outset.”
The letters were sent despite Viagogo’s own rules forbidding touts from contacting buyers.
Viagogo did not respond to our appeals for an explanation.