There will be several upcoming concerts, featuring popular international artists such as Jay Chou, JJ Lin, U2 and IU and the Police would like to remind the public to be wary when making online purchases, especially those involving concert and event tickets. Between January to September 2019, the Police received at least 155 reports of e-commerce scams involving sales of concert and event tickets. The victims either did not receive the tickets or received invalid tickets after payments were made. In addition, there will also be upcoming sales events such as Singles’ Day (11 November) and Black Friday (26 November) in the lead up to the year-end festive season.
Members of the public are advised to adopt the following crime prevention measures:
- Don’t be impulsive – Be wary of online advertisements of concert/show tickets at cheap prices that sound too good to be true! Do not buy on impulse. Read the reviews of the seller before committing to a purchase.
- Don’t believe – Scammers may use a local bank account or provide a copy of an NRIC/driver’s licence to make you believe that they are genuine sellers. Do not fall for it!
- Don’t give – As you are dealing with strangers, avoid making payments or deposits in advance. Try to use shopping platforms/arrangements that release your payment to the seller only upon receiving the item. Alternatively, arrange to meet the seller and pay only after collecting your tickets. Bear in mind that the tickets may be invalid upon entry as they are duplicated tickets. You are therefore advised to purchase only from authorised sellers.
If you wish to provide any information related to such scams, please call the Police hotline at 1800-255-0000, or submit it online at www.police.gov.sg/iwitness. If you require urgent Police assistance, please dial ‘999’.
You may call the anti-scam helpline at 1800-722-6688 or go to www.scamalert.sg for scam-related advice. Join the “Let’s Fight Scams!” campaign at www.scamalert.sg/fight by signing up as an advocate to receive up-to-date messages and share them with your family and friends. Together, we can help stop scams and prevent our loved ones from becoming the next victim of scam.
SINGAPORE POLICE FORCE
06 November 2019 @ 4:20 PM