Ticket Fraud - Updated 10/03/2024 - Active Scammer targeting users.

Post by **toast** » Mon Jul 31, 2023 11:06 pm

General advice for avoiding Scammers is in the below post.

At the time of writing we believe there is a persistent scammer targeting users of this site and other Irish resale sites. We've temporarily suspended new user registration and removed access to many older accounts to try combat them but they could compromise active accounts or have sleeper accounts we're unaware of yet.

So far this is what we've been able to tell:

They're targeting popular events with low ticket availability promising hard to get tickets which require people to take risks to obtain.
Their behaviour in PMs is to ask you to send them your phone number so they can then Whatsapp you outside of our ability to see what's going on. They know we track details and will sometimes try to obfuscate terms such as whatsapp with spaces to avoid our monitoring.
They will try to use Revolut, Paypal, Bank drafts and cryptocurrency to accept payments. None of these have a way of getting a refund if there is a problem. This includes Paypal whose "buyer guarantee" is not valid for personal transfers like this. We recommend using Trustap to provide security to your transaction.
They will provide apparently valid photos of passports or other details on request. Names used so far are:
Claus Kline
Maryna Polkovnykova
Anastasia Savchenko
Accounts maybe registered in Eastern European countries.
Absence of these details is not a guarantee of safety but presence of them should be immediately reported to us.
Given their sophistication the details they have provided maybe compromised and liable to change which makes identifying them difficult. Numbers used so far:
0892640982
0892645708
0899728930
0899890344
Absence of this detail is not a guarantee of safety but presence of it should be immediately reported to us.
They have no remorse taking your money, threats at them will not make them return your money and they will tell you any lie they think you need to hear to get your money.
They've stolen other people's identities and user accounts on this site and other Irish sites to pose as established users.

As people who have been scammed report the issue to the Gardai and they reach out to us we'll provide them with the details we have under Irish Data Protection laws but as these scammers are likely not based in Ireland they're ability to catch them is likely limited.

The very short of this is it is very difficult to trust anyone at this point if you are dealing with them remotely. As we've said many times our intention was the site would be used by people attending the event on the day meeting up to exchange tickets for money in person however we've always allowed people to make their own arrangements on how to pay for and exchange tickets. We'll have tough decisions on how to proceed if we continue to see this activity on the site.

Please think twice about sending money to users you have odd feelings about.
Please assist us by reporting them to info@toutless.com AND using the report button.
Avoid sending a PM with your details to a new user straight away. Request the details from the sellers instead.
Please keep your email contact up to date as we often send warnings out to people via this method if we see them in contact with someone we get a report about.

Post by **toast** » Thu Aug 03, 2023 2:52 pm

As per the t's & c's our site is to help you find a buyer or a seller of tickets. We do not get involved in the transactions between our users. This means we can not tell if tickets or payment is valid or if people are who they are say they are. It is the user's responsibility to ensure this.

Unfortunately there have been scammers in the past who have taken money from people on the promise of tickets. It is likely there will be some in the future. We've created a guide on how to use the site as safe as possible here but we've repeated and clarified some things here.

Any allegation against a user is taken seriously but the limit of our ability to assist stops at locking their account and providing details to law enforcement on request in accordance with Irish Data Protection Laws. If you feel you are a victim of a scam please report it to your local law enforcement station's non emergency line.

We can not report crimes on your behalf but do let us know about incidents so we can lock the users account and stop them from taking in others

In short:

Meet in a safe Public place
Don't send money over the Internet!
Do not assume people are trustworthy because they are on the site.
Do not assume people are trustworthy because of what they say.
Watch for new users with too good to be true offers
Post about your arranged deals on the event topic

More details below:
- The most common scam we've seen is when people send money via electronic payment and expected tickets to be posted to them. This is easily abused as no effort is required to provide tickets and the Internet provides anonymity to the scammer. Meeting safely in public is not a 100% guarantee of validity but you can at least verify someones identity if you request them to bring ID to the meeting. This is our recommend way of using the site.
- While it is not against the site rules we STRONGLY suggest you do not send payment via ANY remote method. Claims that there are safety mechanisms by sellers in any payment method should be verified with the provider of that payment (ie. Paypal guarantees). We are not aware of any payment method that will refund you without question in case of an issue.
- Do not assume a user is trustworthy just because they use this site. We will always lock accounts when we get a valid complaint so if someone is active it means we haven't had reason to remove their access... but this doesn't guarantee they're genuine.
- Do not assume a user is trustworthy because of what they say. Professional scammers are serial liars and will happily say anything to convince you.
- Do not ignore people you feel maybe scammers. Please report them to info@toutless.com or the mods via PM. Do NOT make accusations in private or public. We will investigate suspicions and if we feel there is enough evidence we will lock their account and approach them about the claims.
- Scammers will frequently, but not always, be new to the site, list many tickets for hard to get events and ask for remote payment. Be wary and report situations if you feel something is "too good to be true".
- If you are buying tickets from someone, in addition to sending them a Private Message, make your communication with them public by posting a reply to their listing in the forum saying you are contacting them / have agreed to buy tickets. Others promised the same tickets maybe able to flag an issue with you then.
Please do not accuse users you are suspicious of in either private or public. Please let us know about them immediately by emailing info@toutless.com and we can look at the entirety of the info we have to make a better informed decision on people's intentions.