Anti-ticket touting campaigners in the US have identified thousands of deliberately misleading websites and URLs used by touts - or scalpers to use the American term - to confuse consumers into thinking they are buying tickets from official sources.
The National Independent Venue Association is urging fans to be wary of such sites, while calling on the offices of state-level attorneys general around the US to investigate the misleading web pages and URLs, and enforce relevant state laws to crack down on these deceptive practices.
NIVA Executive Director Stephen Parker says, “Fans shouldn’t have to navigate a system stacked against them just to see live music. Our discovery of 6000 deceptive ticketing websites and URLs offers a troubling window into the scale of consumer deception occurring across the ticket resale marketplace”.
These websites are often designed to look like they are officially linked to an artist or a show’s promoter, using official images and logos, and domain names that suggest some sort of official status. But when you click on the ‘buy tickets’ link, you are taken to tickets being sold by scalpers on resale sites at a mark-up.
In a letter directed to the DA offices of each US state, NIVA says that, “one critical way that ticket scalpers bamboozle your constituents is with deceptive websites and URLs”.
These sites routinely include “unauthorised use of artist or venue trademarks, logos and marketing images”, aiming to make the site look legitimate or official. URLs meanwhile will incorporate “artist names, venue names, festival names, tour names and other protected trademarks”.
The letter then stresses that “average consumers - and even diehard fans buying tickets to shows every week - don’t know what is an actual artist or venue site and what isn’t”.
These unofficial websites then direct people to scalped tickets being sold on resale sites like StubHub, TicketNetwork, Concerts50, TicketSqueeze and BigStub, NIVA explains.
The ticket resale platforms used by touts have themselves been criticised over the years for using confusing language - both on their own sites and on paid-for listings on search engines - to imply they are officially connected to artists and shows, when they are not.
NIVA says, “it is unclear if StubHub, TicketNetwork, Concerts50, TicketSqueeze and BigStub own, operate or are aware of these deceptive sites, that could be in violation of state laws”. However, it adds, “even if they are not aware, or claim to not be aware, they should be aware”.
The letter then concludes by urging the DA offices “to investigate and enforce your states’ deceptive practices laws, and where applicable, explicit bans on deceptive ticket URLs”.
NIVA has also launched a new consumer facing resource as part of its Fix The Tix campaign which includes guidance on how fans can avoid deceptive ticket listings, and advice on how to contact local, state and federal consumer protection officials and policymakers to report any issues they experience.