Man from Hawaii warns of suspected theft on Ticketmaster pages

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – Last week, Wayne David Levy put the finishing touches on a trip he's been looking forward to for months – two tickets to see comedian Nate Bargatze perform in Las Vegas in January.

Shortly thereafter, he received an email from Ticketmaster informing him that his tickets had been sold.

“I signed up to see what happened and my tickets were gone,” Levy said. “I then wasted about 15 minutes on the Ticketmaster website in their chat box without reaching a person or finding a solution. Then I called Ticketmaster and waited on hold for an hour.”

During this time, he also discovered that his stolen tickets were being put up for sale again.

After receiving no response from Ticketmaster, he took matters into his own hands.

“I complained to the artist online,” Levy said. “I complained online to the venue, Encore Casino, and posted about it online on Facebook on the Ticketmaster website.”

However, it turned out that Ticketmaster's Facebook page was also a scam, with hackers asking for his credit card information.

Ultimately, everything worked out as both the venue and Bargatze's team responded immediately with discounted tickets and Ticketmaster ultimately received a refund of their original purchase.

The Better Business Bureau confirms that it has seen cases similar to this one recently and advises consumers to make sure everything is documented.

“I regularly receive screenshots on my phone,” said Dale Dixon, chief innovation officer of BBB-West & Pacific Region.

“I just save it to my photos so I have that order number and a receipt number. I also look at my credit card statements to make sure the transaction is happening there.”

Thorough documentation and constant updating of passwords.

“We all need to practice good online hygiene by changing our passwords regularly and making sure those passwords are really strong and not believing what we see via email,” Dixon said.

Back in April, Ticketmaster reported a massive security incident and advises consumers to constantly be on the lookout for suspicious activity and change passwords.

Although the issue has been resolved, Levy still fears his tickets could be stolen again and believes Ticketmaster has not implemented sufficient protection measures.

“I think if they get a complaint and can't immediately return the tickets to the victim, they should at least freeze them until they find out what happened,” Levy said.

“It is outrageous that they resold my tickets. It’s like a pawn shop that knows there are stolen goods but still has them available for sale.”

Consumer incidents can also be reported to the Better Business Bureau.

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