BC man wants answers from Ticketmaster after Toronto Taylor Swift tickets disappear

A British Columbia resident is speaking out after claiming Taylor Swift tickets were stolen from his Ticketmaster account.

“I never thought something like this would happen,” Jeremy Brady told Consumer Matters.

The northern British Columbia resident says he purchased two Taylor Swift tickets for the November concert in Toronto through Ticketmaster in August 2023 for over $2,000.

However, Brady said the tickets disappeared from his Ticketmaster account last September and were transferred to someone else.

“I saw an email from Ticketmaster saying I accessed my account from Corpus Christi, Texas, which was obviously strange,” Brady said.

This was followed by another email from Ticketmaster saying: “Your ticket transfer is on its way to Joss.”

Brady says he was shocked and immediately contacted Ticketmaster for help, but he didn't hear back from the company for over two weeks.

“The biggest frustration is – one, not being able to talk to anyone – and two, just not getting an update,” Brady said.

“You leave your phone number, a quick message about what’s going on, and then you never hear from me again.”

0:45
Ticketmaster Breach: Hackers Reportedly Demanding $500,000 Ransom for Stolen Customer Data

Consumer Matters contacted Ticketmaster on Brady's behalf and a day later his tickets were restored to his account.

Get national news daily

Receive the most important news as well as headlines from politics, business and current events in your inbox once a day.

Ticketmaster said: “Fans should be aware that unauthorized ticket transfers are often due to poor password management, such as using the same password on multiple websites.”

“Fans should use a strong, unique password for their Ticketmaster account, just like they would for a bank account.”

Brady says he's grateful he reached out to Global News.

“Until I spoke to Consumer Matters and you came forward, absolutely nothing happened,” he said.

Still, Brady says he wants answers from Ticketmaster to explain why his tickets disappeared from his account in the first place.

“It's just unfortunate that when it comes to customer service, Ticketmaster doesn't seem particularly interested in helping their customers,” Brady said.

Last July, Ticketmaster notified Canadian customers of a data security incident involving an unauthorized third party obtaining information from a cloud database hosted by a third-party data service provider.

Technology expert Andy Baryer of Handy Andy Media says this incident could have been prevented if Ticketmaster had taken better cybersecurity precautions.

“Ticketmaster had no incentive to increase its security despite a recent security breach. It seems that they haven't learned their lesson and I think the reason is that there is no competition in this industry.

“They really have no incentive to innovate, particularly when it comes to their security practices.”

Scammers use creative methods to scam potential concertgoers out of their money.

Last month, Ontario police warned about the growing risks of buying Taylor Swift tickets on Facebook. They said scammers are hacking into legitimate accounts and making offers that aren't real.

Taylor Swift will play six Eras Tour shows at Toronto's Rogers Center over two weekends – November 14-16 and November 21-23.

&Copy 2024 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.