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Hawaii man warns of suspected theft on Ticketmaster sites
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Hawaii man warns of suspected theft on Ticketmaster sites

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

Shortly afterwards he received an email from Ticketmaster stating that his tickets had been sold.

“I logged in 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, unable to reach anyone or find a solution. I then called Ticketmaster and was on hold for an hour.”

During that time, he also saw his stolen tickets put up for sale again.

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

“I filed a complaint with the artist online,” Levy said. “I filed a complaint with the venue, Encore Casino online and I posted about it online on Facebook on the Ticketmaster web page.”

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

In the end, it all worked out, as both the venue and Bargatze’s team responded immediately with free tickets, and Ticketmaster eventually reinstated his original purchase.

The Better Business Bureau recently confirmed seeing similar cases like this and advises consumers to make sure everything is documented.

“I get screenshots on my phone all the time,” said Dale Dixon, Chief Innovation Officer of BBB-West & Pacific Region.

“I just save it in my photos so I have that purchase order number, a receipt number. I also review my credit card statements to make sure the transaction takes place there.”

Thorough documentation and constant password updates.

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

In April, Ticketmaster reported a major security incident and advised consumers to continually be on the lookout for suspicious activity and change passwords.

Despite this being resolved, Levy is still concerned that his tickets could be stolen again and believes that Ticketmaster has not implemented sufficient protections.

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

“It’s blatant that they resold my tickets. This is like a pawn shop, knowing they have stolen goods still holding it for sale.”

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