Paul McCartney - no tickets but took money!

smaddern

How Dotster helps ticket touts scam fans

By Nick Sommerlad on March 11, 2010 12:18 AM

Would you buy anything from a masked man who wouldn't tell you his name, phone number or address?
What if he promised to post your purchase in a few months' time?
Thousands of music fans do that every year when they buy tickets - with the result that one in 12 gets scammed, according to the Office of Fair Trading.
Most victims don't know they've been had till just before the event and have no idea who conned them. That's because the dodgy sites rarely give proper company names or contact details. They're helped to hide by friendly domain registrars who protect the anonymity of their clients.
One registrar above all others is fast becoming a safe haven for online ticket touts. Last year we arned readers about readingfestival2009.com and leedsfestival2009.com - updated versions of sites that crooks used to scam hundreds of festivalgoers the previous year.
The sites were registered to a private PO Box in Vancouver by American registrar Dotster.

Dotster was told by British detectives last JUNE that the sites were infected with a virus and was asked to shut them.
It did nothing. The scam ran for another three months and created 1,600 victims who were sent worthless counterfeit tickets. Others got nothing at all. Zoe Machin and two friends saved for months to spend £300 on three Leeds festival tickets.


"The excitement was building, then it turned to panic," she told us. "I don't understand how they get away with it, year after year. Maybe now you've exposed them something will be done." If only.
The international gang behind this scam and dozens of others is still hard at work.
One member, Kolos Kaszaly, a Hungarian IT expert, has admitted offering 'technical support' but won't say who for.
Days before last year's Leeds and Reading festivals he ­registered leedsfestivaltickets2010.com and readingfestivaltickets2010.com. Both sites are still up.
We found several new sites registered anonymously via Dotster with links to previous scams. We can't say customers won't get tickets - but if they don't, they could have trouble with refunds.
They include v-festival-tickets.net, hydeparkconcerts.com and paulmccartneylive.net.
It costs about £10 to register a site and £5 more for Dotster's "private registration" service. Dotster says it "blocks spammers, identity thieves, solicitors and more". That's right.
Last year, Scotland Yard's Police Central e-Crime Unit requested Dotster to delete 50 suspected fraudulent ticket sites.
A source tells us: "Dotster didn't lift a finger."
It seems Dotster, run by tycoon Clint Page, demanded an order from a US court before they'd act. But by then there's every chance the websites would have been, scammed and gone.
But he told us last night that he'd accept a court order from any court in the world: "Dotster is a global company with customers around the world and respects the authority of court orders from any other state or country.
"If a court order is received to shut down a website, Dotster will comply immediately with the court order in its entirety.
"The company requires a court order to suspend a website or cancel a domain registration to ensure it is acting legally and to protect its customers from false accusations."
Ticket fraud expert Reg Walker, from the Iridium Consultancy, told us: "Dotster were told that criminals were using their websites in direct breach of their user agreement. But they did nothing and as a result lots of people got stung."
Over here the Department for Culture ruled out simple legislation - like banning sales of tickets you don't actually have - and opted for more self-regulation.
In other words: "Stop it, Kolos. Pretty please."

welshmoneylover

smaddern wrote: »

I presume you have the same tickets in block U10 Welshmoneylover. Thet look a bit high and far back. The tickets we originaly had were on the field.

I was supposed to have really good seats, :mad: , block U10 is better than nowt, probably won't see much but can soak up the ambience :beer: with a drinkiepoo

UKCharlie

I received the same email from the so called Customer Services at paulmaccartneylive.net having paid by credit card £255.00 for tickets that I have not got been emailing them all day trying to get contact info to get back my money I am fuming, was so looking forward to the concert, is there any way to get my money back?

welshmoneylover

UKCharlie wrote: »

I received the same email from the so called Customer Services at paulmaccartneylive.net having paid by credit card £255.00 for tickets that I have not got been emailing them all day trying to get contact info to get back my money I am fuming, was so looking forward to the concert, is there any way to get my money back?

You will get your money back, but only after the concert has gone ahead.

ScotsMan

I know someone who has been scammed by these people for tickets for Glasgow and after ordering tickets has now been told they are not available,they are devastated. After some investigation it appears the site is running a scam, it is not a genuine site and they are ripping people off.

avoid these people like the plague, they are not genuine in any way and will take your money:mad:

check out safeconcerts.com and put in paul mccartney and you'll see a warning to avoid these people

terry1107

Booked up a couple of months back to see Paul McCartney at the Hard Rock festival in Hyde Park in June, using paulmccartney.net during a mad moment because I mistakenly thought it was his official site! Have seen him live before on two previous occasions and had always checked the net previously for scams from the ticket company I used but because I thought it was the Paul McCartney offical site I just ordered my tickets and waited for them to come.

This week I recieved the now infamous e-mail from paulmccartneylive.net telling me some rubbish about how the ticket agency they do business with has fallen through, I wouldnt be getting any tickets and contact my bank for a refund etc etc.

As soon as I saw the e-mail I knew I had been scammed, apart from the spelling mistakes and poor use of English it is obviously ridiculous to assume that my bank would be liable for the refund of my tickets due to thier business errors and the liability for the refund would be thiers, unless of course it was a scam!

Alerted to the possibilty of the company being a scam website I did some internet research and found this thread, among others, which told of other people's experiences with this site, which I have heard is a scam site run from Slovakia.

I contacted my bank in the fear that my account would be frozen but thankfully this was not the case and I was informed of the scale of this fraud in which thousands of the bank's customer's have been defrauded. I am to recieve a full refund and was thankfully able to purchase a replacement ticket for the concert from Paul McCartney.com, the official site. This was only possible due to the size of the Hyde Park concert and the numbers of tickets available. I would not have been able to secure replacement tickets had the concert been at a smaller venue, i.e the Roundhouse where I had seen Paul live before. My heart goes out to those who have been conned and alhtough may have recieved a refund, have been deprived of an oppurtunity to see Paul McCartney live.

I urge anyone considering using paulmccartneylive.net to avoid using these conmen at all costs.

Kite2010

At least the scammers are nice enough to tell you your not getting your tickets instead of going silence and saying your 'tickets' are available to collect from the box-office.

Use Section 75 (assuming that the tickets were over £100 and you used a credit card)

welshmoneylover

Kite2010 wrote: »

At least the scammers are nice enough to tell you your not getting your tickets instead of going silence and saying your 'tickets' are available to collect from the box-office.

Use Section 75 (assuming that the tickets were over £100 and you used a credit card)

Thank you re: sec 75 they were and yes, I did use a cc. Thankfully.

I feel so sorry for those who didn't but what scamming ba$tards, how they can sleep at night is beyond me.

sjelson

Help - bought tickets from paulmarcartneylive site - now feel very stupid - didnt use credit card only debit! What can I do?? Didnt even recieve email saying we werent getting tickets!

welshmoneylover

sjelson wrote: »

Help - bought tickets from paulmarcartneylive site - now feel very stupid - didnt use credit card only debit! What can I do?? Didnt even recieve email saying we werent getting tickets!

Why dont you try contacting your bank for advice?
Please come back and let me know how you get on?