An Adelaide family has been left heartbroken and penniless after being forced to buy tickets for Olivia Rodrigo twice, just hours before her Melbourne Guts show.
Amanda and Ian McAloon detailed their heartbreak after going through a terrifying ordeal that cost them almost $3,000 after falling victim to cruel scammers.
Talking to him courier mailThe couple said they had bought tickets for their daughters Emily, 19, Chloe, 17, and Imogen, 14, die-hard fans, to see Olivia’s show on October 10 at the Rod Laver Arena.
They claimed that they originally managed to get their hands on three VIP tickets. for $450 each and they left their daughters at the venue 15 hours before the show so they could enjoy the excitement.
But after waiting around two hours in line at the venue, Emily then allegedly checked the tickets when she noticed they had two different names.
“I Googled it and found out that if it’s not in your name, someone has done something with the tickets,” McAloon told the publication, saying the realization made his “heart drop.”
She said her husband had previously been unable to access her Ticketek account and only later realized it had been hacked.
After police told her to fill out an online cybercrime form, McAloon said her husband ran to a ticket office where they were told the tickets had been stolen and resold on Ticketek Marketplace.
An Adelaide family was left heartbroken and penniless after being forced to buy tickets for Olivia Rodrigo twice, just hours before her show at Melbourne Guts (Olivia is pictured in August).
“He noticed they were being resold online for $1 each,” he said. “I didn’t know how I was going to tell the girls.”
The couple managed to secure three more remaining VIP tickets to the show, which the parents purchased for their daughters, bringing the concert total for both sets of tickets to $2,750.
A Ticketek spokesperson told the Courier Mail that all e-commerce platforms were experiencing a huge increase in phishing scams.
They said customers should immediately contact the police and Ticketek customer service if they believe they are victims of stolen or misappropriated tickets, or if they have purchased fraudulent second-hand tickets.
“We would also like to reiterate that Ticketek accounts or individual data have not been compromised,” the spokesperson said.
They added that customers should also change our refresh passwords every six months.
Amanda and Ian McAloon detailed their heartbreak after going through an ordeal that cost them almost $3,000 after falling victim to cruel scammers (Olivia is pictured in April).
Olivia performed four incredible performances for her Australian fans in Melbourne and is now preparing for her long-awaited shows in Sydney.
He will next perform at Qudos Bank Arena on October 17, 18, 21 and 22, which are also his final stops on the Australian leg of his Guts tour.
However, it wasn’t all plain sailing for Olivia at her Melbourne shows, as she fell through a hole in the stage in a shocking mistake at the Rod Laver Arena.
At her fourth and final show in the city, Olivia suddenly disappeared through a trap door in the floor, which had apparently been accidentally left open from a previous entrance.
Fortunately, Olivia managed to grab her hands from the edge of the stage and climb back onto the stage, sharing her surprise at the unexpected fall with the crowd.
Sounding shocked, she assured her fans that she was unharmed and said: ‘OMG! It was fun, I’m fine! Sometimes there’s just a hole in the stage, okay… where was it?’
She quickly recovered from the dramatic fall and continued her performance while proving to be every inch a professional.