Warnings issued over new music ticket fakes

Hannah, 19, was a victim of ticket fraud online

Fraudsters are getting sneakier when it comes to conning ticket buyers out of their money online, police officers have told Newsbeat.

Detectives and concert organisers say they have identified three new cons.

They are warning festival-goers and music fans to be more careful when it comes to purchasing tickets online.

Detectives from London's Metropolitan Police say thieves are now using highly sophisticated methods to get their hands on people's cash.

To combat them, officers are asking for the public's help to try to clamp down on the problem.

New traps

Detective Chief Inspector Nick Downing is in charge of Operation Podium at their economic and specialist crime unit.

"There is a highly lucrative market for ticketing criminals," he said.

"They are becoming evermore sophisticated, using encryption on fake websites to lure the potential purchaser into a false sense of security."

Detectives say scammers are copying well known safety internet devices, like the yellow security padlock, to lure fans into thinking their payment is secure.

They advise fans to look for the letters "https" on the web address before putting in payment details.

Another scam is when bogus sites confirm they have tickets, only weeks later to send an email claiming their supplier has let them down and asking the purchaser to collect a refund from their credit card company.

Social Networking

That situation happened to 19-year-old Hannah Pluthero from London.

She said: "I found this website, bought the tickets, put all the credit card details in, no problem, and thought we were going.

"And the next day a friend of mine who said they'd used the website said they'd received an email."

Hannah managed to recover the £400 she had nearly lost for her Reading Festival tickets.

Dawn Woodhouse is the V Festival co-ordinator, whose tickets sold out in an hour and 20 minutes on Friday morning.

She says they've noticed other tricks: "We do know that some of these scam sites, they might just take a few pence out of somebody's account, just to verify that account is real.

"And then once they've done that, they may empty the account and then that website disappears.

"Since the police and the credit card companies have started to take the fraud more seriously, I think we're on our way to combating it and raising people's awareness."

People receiving scam emails are urged to visit Action Fraud where there is information on where to forward scam mails.