The National Anti-Scam Centre’s warning follows a recent spike in reports of scammers compromising social media accounts to sell fake Taylor Swift tickets to the hacked account’s friends list.

“The Eras Tour is the hottest ticket in town this summer and scammers are seizing the opportunity to dupe Australian Swifties looking to buy resale tickets,” ACCC Deputy Chairman Catriona Lowe said.

Scamwatch has received 273 reports of people being scammed buying Taylor Swift The Eras Tour tickets via social media since tickets went on sale in Australia in June 2023. Australians have lost over AUD135,000 to this scam so far, with this figure likely to continue to rise.

Reports are most prevalent in New South Wales (114 reports, AUD54,645 lost) and Victoria (96 reports, AUD53,607 lost), where the superstar is performing.

According to the Centre, the scam works like this:

- You’re contacted by a friend on social media or see a post by a friend or someone you know and trust on a community page selling tickets to a Taylor Swift concert.

- The social media post or message includes a story about why the person can’t go to the concert and is offering to sell the tickets “at cost”.

- The scammer may ask you to pay an additional fee related to changing the ticket to your name.

- Scammers may try and rush you to purchase the tickets and transfer money by referring to the high demand for the tickets.

- Once paid for, you’re left without the ticket to the concert and no further contact, only to find out that your friend or acquaintance’s social media profile has been hacked.