An Australian music fan was left heartbroken after discovering her Olivia Rodrigo tickets were “resold” by scammers just days before the show.
Hayley Flude, 23, said she bought tickets in May for the pop star's Sydney show as part of the Australian leg of her GUTS tour, which is already sold out.
Flude said he first realized his account had been hacked this week when he received an email from Ticketek Marketplace confirming a listing. The Marketplace feature allows users to sell tickets if, for example, they can no longer attend a show.
Despite immediately trying to log into her Ticketek account to check why her tickets were being listed without her permission, she said the site required her to wait.
“I was unable to get into the Marketplace to collect them before they were sold as there is a virtual queue that takes several minutes to get onto the site,” Flude told Daily Mail Australia.
When she finally logged in, she discovered that her email address and phone number had been changed by one character and her bank details had been changed to an account controlled by the hacker.
“I had two tickets that were over $200 each and the only way to get more is to spend all day refreshing Marketplace, hoping you're the first person to click on a new listing,” said the music fan.
Other Ticketek customers have complained about the same issue following a cyber breach earlier this year in which millions of customers had their personal information stolen.
Hayley Flude (pictured) said she realized something was wrong when she received a notification that her Olivia Rodrigo tickets were on sale, the first time she had heard about it
The Good 4 U hitmaker is in Australia for the first time and is playing a series of shows in Melbourne and Sydney (pictured, Olivia Rodrigo performs in California)
Others pointed out that tickets can be sold through the Marketplace feature without two-factor authentication – a second layer of security, such as sending a PIN number to the account holder's phone to authorize the sale.
“Although they claim that no Ticketek customer accounts were compromised, there is no other way for the hacker to get into my account,” Flude said.
'There is also no 2FA when logging in or changing user information or bank details. I feel very disappointed and frustrated at Ticketek due to the lack of security measures in place.'
Ticketek said in response to the breach that it “became aware of a cyber incident that affected Ticketek Australia account holder information, which is stored on a cloud-based platform hosted by a reputable, global third-party provider.”
It said “customer names, dates of birth and email addresses may have been affected” but assured customers that “Ticketek has secure encryption methods for all passwords and no Ticketek customer accounts have been compromised.” .
'Additionally, Ticketek uses secure encryption methods for online payments and uses a separate system to process online payments, which was not affected. Ticketek does not have identity documents for its customers,” he stated.
The GUTS international tour marks Olivia Rodrigo's first shows in Australia since the release of her debut album in 2021.
Ms Flude (pictured) said she first realized her account had been hacked this week when she received an email from Ticketek Marketplace confirming a listing of her tickets
Ticketek revealed it suffered a cyber breach earlier this year but said accounts were secure
The Grammy winner performed at Melbourne's Rod Laver Arena on Wednesday night and played three more shows on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights.
The pop star then travels to Sydney for four shows at Qudos Bank Arena on October 17, 18, 21 and 22.
Ticketek told Daily Mail Australia that “Australia is currently a global hot spot for phishing and account scams across all e-commerce businesses.”
“Ticketek is aware of unauthorized access to individual accounts through credentials that have been stolen as a result of other third-party data breaches,” a spokesperson said.
'We would also like to reiterate that individual Ticketek accounts or data have not been compromised.
“In the best interests of all our customers, we would like to remind fans to remain vigilant by changing or updating their passwords to safeguard their interests.
'If customers believe they have stolen or misappropriated property and that the resale of their tickets was fraudulent, customers should immediately file a police report and contact Ticketek customer service so we can begin an investigation.
“If the original ticket holder can demonstrate that: they originally purchased the tickets, their information was legitimately compromised; and the sale was fraudulent; Ticketek will work with the customer to resolve the issue.'
