Ecommpay says it is working closely with merchants to help them understand and tackle fraud to help protect customers, following recent data from Action Fraud that revealed £9.7 million was lost to ticket fraud in 2024.
Data showed a rise in both ticket fraud reporting and financial losses in 2024 from 2023. The combined reported financial loss for 2023 was £6,694,955, which went up by 47% in 2024 to £9,794,034. Ticket fraud reporting also revealed there were a total of 9,826 ticket fraud reports in 2024, an 11% increase from 8,719 reports in 2023.
Action Fraud has launched its campaign ahead of the summer with key music events lined up, urging people to stay alert for criminals who are trying to sell tickets online for top events and sold-out concerts. Ticket fraud involves scammers selling fake or non-existent tickets for concerts, sports events, or festivals, often through unofficial platforms, social media, or phishing emails. Fraudsters offer tickets at inflated prices or “too good to be true” discounts, using fake websites, hacked accounts, or QR codes to trick buyers.
Marija Solovjova, Head of Fraud AML transactions & Disputes Department at Ecommpay, said: “Merchants face many challenges in detecting fraud, especially as fraudsters continually refine their methods, making them harder to detect as they employ advanced technologies and tactics. Without a robust anti-fraud strategy in place, merchants are sitting ducks and not able to protect themselves or customers from rising scams such as ticket fraud. We suggest buying tickets only from official box offices, promoters, agents, or trusted ticket sites and avoid third-party sellers on social media or secondary platforms.
“Ecommpay helps merchants to fight modern day fraud with a new approach and mindset. Our market-leading Graph Analysis tool has unveiled nearly 13,000 fraudulent chains involving almost 51,000 users across 207 unique merchants. 29% were confirmed scammers, while others were part of unsuccessful or unreported fraudulent attacks.
“Fraudsters pose a multifaceted and ever-changing threat to e-commerce merchants which is why advanced machine-learning tools are so crucial. Implementing intelligent, adaptive and people-centric anti-fraud strategies gives businesses an advantage in the battle against online fraud. A multi-layered approach to fraud prevention requires multiple systems working together to provide valuable information and insights; a good model can only be built with a good understanding of how and when fraud happens.”
