Taylor Swift fans in the UK could have already lost more than £1m to con artists pretending to sell concert tickets for her Eras tour, a major bank has estimated.
Lloyds Bank has issued a warning to fans based on an analysis of purchase scams reported by its customers, as well as those of Halifax and Bank of Scotland, where Swiftand/or the Eras Tour were referenced as part of the claim.
More than 600 Lloyds Banking Group customers have reported being scammed since tickets went on sale in July 2023.
Each victim lost £332 on average, though in some cases the loss was more than £1,000, Lloyds said.
With the figures based solely on its own customer data, Lloyds estimates there are likely to have been at least 3,000 victims across the UK – with more than £1m lost to fraudsters – based on its current account market share and assuming similar trends across other UK banks.
Fans aged 25 to 34 trying to buy sold-out tickets are most likely to be targeted, with many scams originating on social media, Lloyds warned.
Purchase scams involve tricking someone into sending money via bank transfer to buy goods or services that are fake, shoddy, or do not exist.
Ticket scams often involve fake adverts, posts or listings on social media, offering tickets or access to events which have already sold out as fraudsters know they can cash in on eager fans willing to pay much more by falsely claiming to have tickets for sale.
Advertisement
Swift’s record-breaking Eras tour is set to gross more than $1bn (£813m), according to reports, with tickets for shows selling out as soon as they went on sale.
By the time it ends in December, the star will have played more than 150 shows across five continents.
Follow Sky News on WhatsApp
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
Lisa Webb, consumer law expert at Which?, said people buying gig tickets should use a credit card for anything costing more than £100, or PayPal, as both these methods can provide protection.
“We’ve heard from disappointed Swifties who have bought tickets on social media, only to realise it’s a scam when their promised tickets never materialise,” she said. “Unfortunately, if it looks too good to be true, it probably is.
“Don’t be tempted to buy tickets from anyone other than authorised sellers, as your rights can be significantly reduced if something goes wrong.”
Anyone who thinks they have fallen victim to a ticket scam should contact their bank and report it to Action Fraud or Police Scotland, she added.
Liz Ziegler, Lloyds Bank fraud prevention director, said: “It’s easy to let our emotions get the better of us when we find out our favourite artist is going to be performing live, but it’s important not to let those feelings cloud our judgement when trying to get hold of tickets.”
RuPaul’s Drag Race star The Vivienne was remembered at a vigil in their home city of Liverpool on Sunday night.
James Lee Williams, originally from Colwyn Bay in North Wales, died on 5 January aged 32.
Hundreds of fans and friends of The Vivienne gathered at Liverpool‘s St George’s Hall.
Buildings across the city were lit up in green to commemorate the drag queen and their role as the Wicked Witch of the West in the Wizard Of Oz musical.
Fellow drag queen Danny Beard said the vigil was “a celebration of someone who touched the lives of so many”.
“The Vivienne was one of the world’s most recognisable drag queens, a proper world class entertainer,” they added.
“And above all a shining beacon in all of our lives and especially for the LGBT community.”
Since The Vivienne first rose to prominence in 2019, they appeared on a number of TV programmes, including Blankety Blank over the Christmas period.
The first episode in the series of Dancing On Ice on Sunday night also featured a tribute to The Vivienne, who competed on the 2023 series.
Presenter Holly Willoughby said many would have been “saddened by the tragic news”.
“They were a huge part of our show, making it all the way to the final in 2023,” she added.
“They will be very sorely missed and our thoughts are with The Vivienne’s loved ones at this time. So sad.”
In a tribute released after Mr Williams’s death, a Dancing On Ice spokesperson said they were “deeply saddened” by the news.
They said Mr Williams had made “TV history through their groundbreaking and spellbinding skating partnership”, becoming the first drag act to reach the Dancing On Ice final.
In an interview withThe Sun, his first since he underwent the lifesaving surgery, the 36-year-old described the moment when he thought he would die.
He said: “If I could go from being absolutely on top of the world to being told ‘the bottom part of your heart isn’t working’, I kept thinking in my head, ‘Well, what if the top half stops working overnight?'”
“That first night I wrote a will, I thought I was going to die,” the 36-year-old musician added.
On the night of 13 December, George said his heart rate and blood pressure dropped, “I felt like I was dying,” he said.
He had a pacemaker fitted by doctors during the surgery, but the former Strictly Come Dancing star said he made a will on his phone fearing the worst.
More on The Wanted
Related Topics:
Before the surgery, George said his thoughts turned to his partner, British actress Maisie Smith, and his family who he feared he’d leave behind.
He shared updates on social media throughout the process.
Instagram
This content is provided by Instagram, which may be using cookies and other technologies.
To show you this content, we need your permission to use cookies.
You can use the buttons below to amend your preferences to enable Instagram cookies or to allow those cookies just once.
You can change your settings at any time via the Privacy Options.
Unfortunately we have been unable to verify if you have consented to Instagram cookies.
To view this content you can use the button below to allow Instagram cookies for this session only.
Tom Parker, who also rose to fame in the 2010s with the boy band along with George, died at the age of 33 after being diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumour.
Former Little Mix star Jesy Nelson has announced she is pregnant with twins.
The singer, 33, said she was “eating for three now” on her Instagram alongside a polaroid picture of her with Zion Foster, with whom she was reported to have split up last year.
Nelson shared the touching post on Sunday, letting the world know she is set to become a mum for the first time – including two baby emojis next to her message.
The cosy picture shows the pair smiling in a kitchen.
Nelson rose to fame with the girl band Little Mix, which formed on The X Factor in 2011 and earned a string of UK number-one singles.
However, she left in December 2020 after nine years, saying the pressures of being in the group had taken a toll on her mental health.
Nelson has since performed as a solo artist but still had praise for her former bandmates, telling The Graham Norton Show in 2021: “To me they are still the sickest girl band in the world.”
Little Mix continued as a trio after Nelson’s departure in December 2020 before going on hiatus in 2022.