An Australian music fan was left heartbroken after discovering scammers had “resold” her Olivia Rodrigo tickets just days before the concert.
Hayley Flude, 23, said she bought tickets in May to the pop superstar’s show in Sydney as part of the Australian leg of her sold-out GUTS tour.
Flude said he first realized his account had been hacked this week when he received an email from Ticketek Marketplace confirming a listing. The Marketplace feature allows users to sell tickets if, for example, they can no longer attend a show.
Despite immediately trying to log into his Ticketek account to check why his tickets were appearing without his permission, he said the website asked him to wait.
“I couldn’t get into the Marketplace to pick them up before they were sold because there is a virtual queue that takes several minutes to get on the site,” Ms Flude told Daily Mail Australia.
When he finally logged in, he discovered that his email address and phone number had been altered by one character and that his banking details had been changed to an account controlled by the hacker.
“I had two tickets that were over $200 each and the only way to get more is to spend all day refreshing Marketplace in hopes of being the first person to click on a new ad,” the music fan said.
Other Ticketek customers have complained about the same problem after a cyber breach earlier this year in which millions of customers had their personal information stolen.
Hayley Flude (pictured) said she first realized something was wrong when she received a notification that her Olivia Rodrigo tickets were on sale, the first time she heard about it.
The Good 4 U hitmaker is in Australia for the first time and will be performing a series of shows in Melbourne and Sydney (pictured, Olivia Rodrigo performs in California)
Others have noted that tickets can be sold through the Marketplace feature without two-factor authentication — a second layer of security, such as sending a PIN number to the account holder’s phone to authorize the sale.
“Although they claim that no Ticketek customer accounts have been compromised, the hacker has no other way to access my account,” Ms Flude said.
‘There is also no 2FA when logging in or changing user information or banking details. “I feel very disappointed and frustrated with Ticketek due to the lack of security measures in place.”
Ticketek said in response to the breach that it had “become aware of a cyber incident affecting Ticketek Australia account holder information, which is stored on a cloud-based platform, hosted by a reputable, global third-party provider.” “.
It said that “customers’ names, dates of birth and email addresses may have been affected,” but assured customers that “Ticketek has strong encryption methods for all passwords and no Ticketek customer accounts have been compromised.” seen compromised”.
‘In addition, Ticketek uses secure encryption methods for online payments and uses a separate system to process online payments, which has not been affected. “Ticketek does not keep identity documents for its clients,” he said.
The GUTS international tour marks Olivia Rodrigo’s first shows in Australia since the release of her debut album in 2021.
Ms Flude (pictured) said she first realized her account had been hacked this week when she received an email from Ticketek Marketplace confirming a listing of her tickets.
Ticketek revealed it suffered a cyber breach earlier this year, but said the accounts were secure.
The Grammy winner performed at Melbourne’s Rod Laver Arena on Wednesday night and has three more shows on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights.
The pop star then heads to Sydney for four shows at Qudos Bank Arena on October 17, 18, 21 and 22.
Ticketek told Daily Mail Australia that “Australia is currently a global hotspot for account phishing and scams across all e-commerce businesses.”
“Ticketek is aware of unauthorized access to individual accounts through credentials that have been stolen as a result of other third-party data breaches,” a spokesperson said.
‘We would also like to reiterate that Ticketek accounts or individual data have not been compromised.
‘For the sake of all our customers, we would like to remind fans to remain vigilant and change or update their passwords to safeguard their interests.
‘If customers believe that their property has been stolen or misappropriated, and that the resale of their tickets was fraudulent, customers should immediately file a police report and contact Ticketek customer service so we can begin an investigation.
‘If the original ticket holder can demonstrate that: they originally purchased the tickets, their information has been legitimately compromised; and the sale was fraudulent; Ticketek will work with the customer to resolve the issue.’
