• Major international acts heading down under prompts call to be alert to scammers
• Customers reporting criminals taking over social media accounts to sell fake tickets to friends

Music fans desperate to attend sold out concerts are being warned about criminals hacking social media accounts and selling bogus tickets to the victim’s unwitting friends.

With major international artists set to tour in coming days and weeks, it can be revealed NAB customers have abandoned $285,0000 in payments linked to potential ticket scams in the last three months.

First introduced in March 2023, customers may receive a payment alert in the NAB app or Internet Banking if a payment is out of character or shows signs that it could be a scam.

NAB Security Awareness Manager Laura Hartley said scammers played on fans’ FOMO (fear of missing out), often responding to fans who post on social media looking for tickets or listing non-existent ones.

“Tickets for sold out concerts being listed on social media marketplaces or posts in fan groups are the biggest red flag of a scam,” she said.

“Only buy tickets from the authorised reseller.

“We’re hearing about criminals hacking social media profiles and selling bogus concert tickets to the account owner’s friends, who aren’t aware someone else is controlling the account.

“Even if it’s a friend you legitimately know listing the tickets on social media, pick up the phone and talk to them directly before sending money.”

Ticket scams are a type of buying and selling scams, which, according to Scamwatch, cost Australians an estimated $43 million in 2023.

Ms Hartley said as ticket scams become more sophisticated, it’s vital Australians can recognise the red flags to stop the crime before it happens.

“It can be exciting and even emotional thinking you’ve found a last-minute ticket so it’s vital to slow down,” Ms Hartley said.

“Our real time payment alerts are designed to help with that and are one of several initiatives completed as part of NAB’s bank-wide scam strategy.

“While many customers ultimately complete their payment after receiving a ticket scam alert, we know they are stopping and pausing because we’ve seen about $285,0000 worth of payments abandoned.”

Ms Hartley encouraged anyone who believes they may have been the victim of scam to contact their bank immediately.

“Our team receives an average of almost 80,000 calls each month about scams and fraud, up from an average of 63,800 calls a month this time last year,” she said.

“Contact your bank immediately if you think you’ve been scammed, and check out nab.com.au/securityalerts for details of current scams.”

Action on scams

NAB has a bank-wide strategy to help address the global scam epidemic. Recent actions include:

• Introducing payment alerts to digital banking, resulting in customers abandoning more than $50 million worth of payments in eight months
• Stopping the use of links in unexpected text messages
• Blocking some payments to high-risk cryptocurrency exchanges 
• Collaborating with telcos to prevent spoofing scams  
• Purchasing ads warning Australians about ticket scams across platforms including Spotify, Gumtree and Facebook Marketplace
• Adding 50 people to the Scams and Fraud team since October 2022 so customers can speak to someone faster
• Using BioCatch biometrics technology in the NAB app and Internet Banking to help identify fraudulent activity
• Ongoing customer and community education via its Security Hub website, direct alerts (eg in the NAB app), emails, social media content and free monthly webinars