MINNEAPOLIS — Troubles with Ticketmaster is something Swifties know "All Too Well," but more and more fans are reporting their tickets to Taylor Swift's record-breaking Eras Tour are getting stolen from cyberhackers.
Swift is about to start her final U.S. leg of the tour, but the reports of tickets being stolen through cyber hacks on individual fan's Ticketmaster accounts stem back months. However, the problem is growing.
"I woke up to an email that my tickets had been transferred out of my account to a name that I was not familiar with," Swift fan, Livi Gislason said.
Gislason and her sister Emma Shepley were ecstatic to land the highly coveted tickets to Swift's final US stop in Indianapolis until they were transferred to someone's account she doesn't know on Sept. 22. The concert would be there first time seeing each other in four months. Both are devastated to not only miss out on the concert, but the "once in a lifetime opportunity."
Gislason and her sister called Ticketmasters customer service line 30 times that day. They didn't get through to a representative until the 30th phone call and were told someone would reach out to then in 48 hours. Once that time passed and no one contacted them, they called back and were told by a Ticketmaster representative that someone would get back to them in 3-5 business days.
"We have jobs like I don't need to take on a secondhand job trying to track down the tickets I rightfully bought," Emma said.
Gislason questions whether Ticketmaster's data breach has led to fans experience the fraudulent ticket transfers. She says she didn't learn of the breach until her tickets were stolen.
A Ticketmaster spokesperson told KARE 11's Morgan Wolfe that passwords to accounts weren't exposed. The spokesperson said:
"Overall, our digital ticketing innovations have greatly reduced fraud compared to the days of paper tickets and duplicated PDFs. Having that digital history is also how we are able to investigate and successfully return tickets for fans. The top way fans can protect themselves is setting a strong unique password for all accounts – especially for their personal email which is where we often see security issues originate. Scammers are looking for new cheats across every industry, and tickets will always be a target because they are valuable, so Ticketmaster is constantly investing in new security enhancements to safeguard fans."
On their website, Ticketmaster says if your tickets are lost, stolen, damaged or destroyed, contact Fan Support and their team will be happy to help. Make sure you have your order number or the card you used to buy the tickets readily available.
Meanwhile, U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar is weighing in on the latest Ticketmaster development.
"Ticketmaster needs to make these fans whole. It's unacceptable that fans who bought tickets are now seeing their tickets fraudulently transferred out of their accounts," said Sen. Klobuchar. "There is a reason the Justice Department has sued Ticketmaster to better protect customers following my hearing. We need to pass my bipartisan Fans First Bill and get this case resolved to stop consumers from being ripped off."
Cyber security experts recommend people change their passwords regularly, and turn on two-way authentication services to make it more challenging for bad actors to gain access to your accounts.