A TAYLOR Swift fan has been disenchanted after she spent nearly $800 on concert tickets only to watch them disappear from her account.
Megan Leiss bought four tickets to Swift’s Eras Tour in what started as a typical purchase with Ticketmaster over a year ago.
Megan Leiss, who bought four tickets for an upcoming Taylor Swift concert[/caption]
Leiss begged Ticketmaster for help to get her tickets back over messages on X[/caption]
Taylor Swift performing at Eras Tour in Cincinnati, Ohio, on June 30, 2023[/caption]
Leiss, a pharmacist based in Cincinnati, Ohio, charged the $792 cost to her credit card on August 11, 2023.
After a short break, Swift is set to continue her legendary Eras Tour with a final US leg starting on October 18.
Ahead of Leiss’ plans to go to the concert on November 1, the Swiftie recently went to check on her tickets in her Ticketmaster app – and found she couldn’t enter the site at all.
“In my case, I couldn’t even log in anymore,” Leiss told The U.S. Sun.
“It was saying there wasn’t an account associated with my email even though it’s the email that the order confirmation and mobile tickets were sent to and the email I got my presale verification code.”
She then went to her email account, where she found she couldn’t download the tickets from her previous confirmation message.
“I also couldn’t download my mobile tickets from the original order confirmation email because when I clicked the link to download tix, Leiss explained.
“I was getting a page not found error message.”
She then attempted to contact Ticketmaster but had a hard time reaching the company.
“I tried calling customer service like three times and was on hold and never got in touch with anymore,” Leiss said.
“I then tried calling the fraud department and was on [hold] for 15 minutes before being prompted to leave a voicemail.”
Leiss said she filled out an email form as well, but couldn’t chat with a Ticketmaster staffer online because she couldn’t get into her account.
When she finally got a hold of the company, an employee told her that there was no record of an account associated with her email ever existing.
She gave the team her order number and they couldn’t find her tickets – which caused it to be escalated to the fraud team.
Ticketmaster data breach
In summer 2024, more than 500 million Ticketmaster customers were reportedly victims of a data breach.
- In June 2024, Ticketmaster notified users of a data breach resulting in 560 million users’ data being leaked.
- The company told the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that “a criminal threat actor” offered to sell users’ information on the dark web.
- Before the official announcement on May 28, hacking group ShinyHunters claimed responsibility.
- ShinyHunters is an international cyber threat group that has claimed to have breached large companies such as Microsoft and AT&T.
- The group sought $500,000 for the 1.3TB of Ticketmaster’s customer information, including addresses, phone numbers, and credit card details.
- Ticketmaster’s parent company, Live Entertainment, confirmed that the data breach happened because of unauthorized access to a third-party cloud storage platform.
- Although Live Entertainment has not stated which third-party database leaked the information, it is speculated that the AI cloud database platform, Snowflake, was compromised.
The company told her the issue could take a while to investigate, but Leiss acted quickly as the clock was ticking on the upcoming show.
She took her complaint to X, where a Ticketmaster employee informed her of a different email attached to her order number.
Leiss’ tickets had been transferred to a stranger.
“My account was hacked,” Leiss wrote to Ticketmaster in a panicked message.
“That’s not an email I use and I never transferred my tickets nor did I okay that.”
“Please get my tickets back!!!” she pleaded with the company.
KARMA COMES BACK AROUND
Leiss said she saw similar stories online of people who reported that their tickets were transferred from their accounts.
After bringing the problem online and leaving another voicemail, Leiss finally eventually got her tickets back.
Ticketmaster’s full statement
A Ticketmaster Spokesperson shared the following statement with The U.S. Sun about Leiss’ incident:
“Overall, our digital ticketing innovations have greatly reduced fraud compared to the days of paper tickets and duplicated PDFs,” Ticketmaster said.
“Having that digital history is also how we are able to investigate the situation and restore fans’ tickets.
“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.”
With the concert just a few weeks away, Leiss is now relieved that the issue is over because she said she “truly wouldn’t have looked for my tix until a few days before the concert.”
Ticketmaster told The U.S. Sun that thanks to security measures built into mobile tickets, the company can typically restore nearly all tickets.
“Overall, our digital ticketing innovations have greatly reduced fraud compared to the days of paper tickets and duplicated PDFs,” a spokesperson for Ticketmaster said.
“Having that digital history is also how we are able to investigate the situation and restore fans’ tickets.”
FROM THE VAULT
Leiss’ terrifying account comes after over 500 million Ticketmaster customers’ details were reportedly stolen earlier this year.
Ticketmaster maintained that the data breach wasn’t a hack and that no passwords were exposed in the incident.
Customers were warned to check their accounts as personal information was stolen.
Ticketmaster said the best way to protect themselves against fraud is by setting strong unique passwords on their accounts, “especially for their personal email which is where we often see security issues originate,” the spokesperson added.
The company said that Ticketmaster is “constantly investing” in new ways to protect fans and their tickets.
Over 500 million Ticketmaster customers were affected in a data breach earlier this year (stock image)[/caption]
Taylor Swift outside of Electric Lady Studios in New York City on September 12, 2024[/caption]
