People warned to look out for these three tell-tale signs of a ticket scam
A new study has been issued on scams. Here are the top red flags to look out for
How 'scam savvy' are you? Take the quiz to find out.
(Image: Getty )
A new study has found one in five Brits have been a victim of at least one ticket scam, losing an average of £186 in the process. This follows research involving 2,000 UK adults which revealed that one in five have fallen prey to at least one ticketing fraud.
The survey discovered that those who were duped lost an average of £186 each. Additionally, 28% experienced a 'close call', which left them feeling let down, exasperated and furious. Furthermore, 27% chose to keep their close call – or genuine online ticketing fraud – hidden from others.
In the fight against ticket fraud, a specialist from The Society of Ticket Agents and Retailer (STAR), whose membership includes Ticketmaster, has outlined key warning signs to help prevent you becoming a target. Jonathan Brown, chief executive of STAR, explained: "Fraudsters are getting smarter, but there are ways to stay safe. Stick to secure, verified sellers to make sure your ticket leads to the real experience and not to disappointment.
"Buying from a STAR member is one of the best ways to protect yourself and you'll have access to our Alternative Dispute Resolution service if anything goes wrong."
A Ticketmaster representative commented: "Our top piece of advice when purchasing tickets is to avoid buying from social media at all costs - you never know who is on the other side of the screen.
"As demand surges for concerts, sports events and festivals, fraudsters often take advantage of that urgency, luring people in with deals that are simply too good to be true.
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"Everyone deserves to enjoy their favourite events without worrying about being scammed. By staying vigilant, doing a quick bit of research and resisting the pressure to act fast, you can help protect yourself and others from falling victim to ticket fraud."
The study also revealed that 72% of those who narrowly avoided a dodgy deal did so because they sensed something was amiss with the transaction and backed out. Meanwhile, 43% were prompted to reconsider when their banking app flagged the need for additional verification, prompting them to think twice.
According to the statistics gathered by OnePoll.com, music concerts are the prime targets for scammers, followed by sporting events and festivals. Alarmingly, 24% have observed suspicious activities when attempting to purchase tickets for family or children's events.
A concerning finding is that only 60% of respondents feel confident in their ability to identify a ticket scam online. Furthermore, nearly half (44%) of those who have previously acquired tickets from unofficial sources admitted they were aware of the risks involved.
A representative from Ticketmaster cautioned: "Some scammers even try to sell you tickets before the event is on sale, remember that this will always be a fake unless it's an official presale."
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They also warned against another common deceit: "Another tactic is sending fans a link to a replica of an official ticketing website – so go directly to the page rather than following links."
Superintendent Amanda Wolf, head of the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau at the City of London Police, issued a warning: "This summer we're seeing all the biggest ticketed concerts and events happen, like the Oasis reunion tour, but those scrambling to buy last minute tickets have become prime targets for fraudsters."
She urged caution, advising: "Remember to take a moment and Stop! Think Fraud before buying tickets through social media. "Look out for unsolicited or unexpected messages selling sold-out tickets as it could be a fraudster. She concluded by saying: "Stay safe and follow Action Fraud's advice to protect yourself from fraud."
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Scottish Sun
36 minutes ago
- Scottish Sun
I was jailed with UK's most evil killers… I slapped Myra Hindley for sick tune & saw raging Rose West froth at mouth
Convicted killer Linda Calvey describes the bizarre incident which sent serial killer Rose West into a blind rage DARK TIME I was jailed with UK's most evil killers… I slapped Myra Hindley for sick tune & saw raging Rose West froth at mouth HEARING 'Britain's most evil woman' cheerfully singing along to the radio, convicted killer Linda Calvey felt something snap inside. Seconds later Linda - dubbed 'The Black Widow' - slapped child killer Myra Hindley so hard she left a handprint mark on her face, leaving the child killer recoiling in horror and pain. 12 Evil Myra Hindley was considered the 'most evil woman in Britain' due to her crimes Credit: Hulton Archive - Getty 12 Linda reveals the Moors Murderer considered her 'a friend' - much to her annoyance 12 She labelled Rose West 'not very intelligent, drab and dull' Credit: PA:Press Association 'It all happened in a split-second,' Linda tells us. 'I yelled, 'How dare you sing when you murdered all of those children!' I slapped her without thinking.' This was her first of many encounters with the Moors Murderer, who butchered five kids aged 10 to 17 alongside partner Ian Brady in the Sixties, in three different prisons. Linda, jailed for multiple robbery offences and murder, would, reluctantly, get to know Myra better than anyone behind bars and now reveals all for The Sun's Meeting a Monster series. She tells us how Hindley duped prison staff to feed her interest in the occult and hid her secret fling with another notorious inmate. Recalling her attack on Myra, Linda tells us: 'I walked into the washing room and couldn't believe she was singing along to the radio. 'The next second I snapped, before I knew it, without even thinking, I slapped her. I thought, 'Oh God, what have I done?' but I'm still glad to this day that I did it. 'I remember she looked at me, rubbed her face and there was a handprint. She yelled, 'I could get you shipped off to [HMP] Holloway'. 'I said 'Holloway holds no fears for me' and walked out. The mad thing is she never reported me but I think part of it was that she had been attacked so many times before. 'Prior to that an inmate had broken her nose and there were various other issues, I think she feared officers would force her to give up her job washing inmates' clothes. 'That wouldn't have benefitted her, she would have been locked in her cell all day with nothing to do.' Pathetic last days of Rose West revealed as serial killer monster can barely walk, has no friends & has new fake identity 12 Moors Murderer Myra and Ian Brady committed abhorrent killings during the Sixties Credit: Shutterstock 12 Evil Ian Brady died at the age of 79 Credit: Hulton Archive - Getty It would take four more encounters before Myra spoke again to Linda - who next week releases gangland crime fiction Hope, loosely influenced by her experiences in prison and London's East End underworld. By this time, Hindley no longer sported her trademark blonde hair, instead dying it red. But she had the same 'harsh features and look about her' that made many lags feel uncomfortable. 'You wouldn't look at her twice on the street. She looked more like an everyday housewife than a monster but there was this evil, horrible feeling around her,' Linda recalls. 'There was no warmth or niceness. She had this unpleasant aura and was very aloof but highly, highly intelligent.' Evil obsession Linda worked in the prison library and Myra would often come in to order books - permitted for inmates - but the monster had a dark motive behind it. While she requested romantic books under her own name, she secretly used the identity of other inmates to pursue her real passion. 'She would say, 'Can you order a book under this name?' and choose totally different books. They were about Adolf Hitler, black magic and obscure things,' Linda says. 'I told one of the staff, 'This is ridiculous. Is she allowed to do this?' 'They told me to just order the books. Myra bucked the system and it proved her true feelings and desires. This was long into her sentence too.' The serial killer considered herself 'far superior' to her fellow inmates who she considered 'stupid and thick' according to Linda. It was right for her to suffer so intensely at the end of her life after all the harm she caused. I remember I used to look at her and think, 'You deserve this' Linda on Myra Hindley Myra mainly kept to herself and few prisoners wanted to talk to her. One who did was fellow monster Rose West, who tortured and killed 10 young women with her husband Fred. Linda noted that they 'became thick as thieves', spending every meal time and any spare moments together, as well as often disappearing into each other's cells, in HMP Durham. 'Everybody knew they were having a fling, it was like they were stuck together. It's just beyond belief to think about,' Linda says. 'These were the two worst women in Britain, two mass murderers, and they were getting involved with each other, having an affair. 'They used to go to each other's cells all of the time and while you couldn't lock the door you could close it. Everybody knew what was going on. 'I remember one prison officer, who came over from the men's wing, being horrified when he saw them together and said, 'If I had a camera I could retire tomorrow.'' Their fling lasted seven weeks before it 'suddenly stopped' according to Linda, which she found 'very bizarre' due to how cosy they had been. She suspects the lawyer representing Rose, who was then awaiting trial, may have advised her against spending time with Myra because it was 'not a good idea and didn't look good'. 'Poetic justice' The final time Linda met Myra was in HMP Highpoint, where the villain was kept isolated living in two cells between the hospital wing and cell block. 12 Myra Hindley and Ian Brady murdered five kids Credit: SWNS:South West News Service 12 West lost her temper and flew into furious rages in front of Linda Credit: Alamy Linda says: 'It was called 'no man's land' and they decided she had to live there. Her life was totally solitary. She lived in one cell and she had a job repairing books in the other. 'She was a really ill woman then. She did suffer a lot. She had such brittle bones that they were always snapping and chronic COPD but remained a chain smoker. 'Normally you'd feel sympathy for someone like that - 'that poor person' - but for her it felt like poetic justice. 'It was right for her to suffer so intensely at the end of her life after all the harm she caused. I remember I used to look at her and think, 'You deserve this.'' Knowing she trained as a hairdresser and that they had met before, Linda was the unfortunate soul picked to style Myra hair - a task she couldn't refuse, fearing it would impact her chance of parole. She would dye it red once a month and wash it twice a week and noted that the murderer was 'very particular' as her hair was the 'only thing left she could control'. During their time together, Myra asked about life on the prison wing and spoke about her longing to go to the gym - which she was unable to do. In a bizarre moment, after several weeks styling her hair, Linda was forced to speak to Myra's mum on the phone and was told she was the beast's 'only pal'. 'With a really elderly voice, her mum said 'Hello' and 'I'm so pleased my Myra's finally got a friend',' Linda tells us. She was hysterical, absolutely enraged and yelled, 'He should be hanged! That poor cyclist'. While yes, it was terrible, that was coming from a mass murderer Linda on Rose West 'I thought, 'I am not her friend', but didn't say it. I thought about all her poor mum must have suffered having her for a daughter. She must have taken a lot of stick.' Myra was so desperate for attention that she gave Linda a bevvy of gifts including a cardigan 'to keep me warm, which looked awful' and an empty chocolate box, because it was velvet and she thought it 'looked lovely' . The monster, who died from respiratory failure in 2002, had a miserable time rotting in prison before she passed. Linda says: 'Myra was really lonely and the longer into the sentence she got the worse it was for her. In HMP Highpoint she couldn't mix with anyone and had a very lonely existence in the final two years before she died.' 'Foaming with rage' Another famous lag Linda shared her stint with was Rose West - but unlike Myra, the former was a woman of 'quite low intelligence'. One moment that highlighted it to her, was the night her husband Fred took his own life in 1995 while the House of Horrors killers were awaiting trial. 'We could hear the men from the male prison wing singing 'Fred West, has gone and hung himself' to the tune of The Village People song Go West,' Linda says. 'We all heard it but Rose never associated what they were singing with Fred having killed himself and that it was about her husband. She wasn't intelligent. 'When she found out about his suicide, she wasn't happy at all. She wasn't upset, she was angry and absolutely raving about what he had done. 12 West was 'absolutely raving' when she discovered husband Fred killed himself Credit: Shutterstock 12 Linda credits third husband George Ceasar, who died from cancer in 2015, with encouraging her to write Credit: Supplied 'I think she felt that way because until that point she thought she was going to walk away and Fred would take the rap for their crimes.' Besides being 'rather thick', Linda thought Rose was 'very drab, dry and very old fashioned' and the only positive thing about her was that she was a very talented seamstress. And while she gave off a meek persona, claiming to have been bent to evil under duress from Fred, there were a few times where the monster's mask slipped. Once was during a prison session with a university lecturer, who encouraged inmates to debate stories in the newspaper. The one they chose was about a drunk driver who ran over a cyclist, killing him, which Linda says left Rose so enraged she was 'foaming at the mouth'. 'She was hysterical, absolutely enraged and yelled, 'He should be hanged! That poor cyclist'. While yes, it was terrible, that was coming from a mass murderer. 'She started foaming at the mouth, it looked like toothpaste and we were transfixed by this gross white gunk coming out of her mouth. That's when the debate ended.' Another outburst followed an arsonist setting fire to her cell, which nearly killed her pet budgie, who was left covered in black soot. He was always proposing. He didn't write love letters, he would just say, 'I was thinking, if you'd like to marry me the offer is still there' Linda on notorious lag Linda recalls: 'Rose was hysterical, 'How could anyone be so evil to set fire to a cell and leave a bird in there' she yelled. She begged the guards to save it. 'It was given to another inmate to nurse back to health. After that, she went and lay on her bed for two days straight. She didn't get off it until the budgie was better.' Serial proposers In another surprising twist, Linda found herself on the receiving end of affection from two notorious prisoners - mobster Reggie Kray and violent lag Charles Bronson. The former, she tells us, would call her every week from prison, lavished her with gifts and once proposed before telling her 'forget I said anything' after she turned him down. Meanwhile Bronson popped the question 'probably every three months and at least 14 times' in letters as well as sending her photos. The lag, who has nearly served 50 years behind bars, contacted her claiming he knew some of her friends and said 'what a lovely person I was'. 'Due to being in prison for so long, he didn't have a lot to chat about so would ask me questions like, 'How are you?', 'Any family visits?' and that kind of thing. 12 Charles Bronson bombarded Linda with proposals Credit: SWNS:South West News Service 12 Reggie Kray (left) also tried to woo the bank robber Credit: Getty 'Then all of a sudden, 'Would you like to marry me?' I said, 'I don't think it's a good idea'. He said 'That's ok' and then three months later, was like, 'Would you like to marry me?' again. 'He was always proposing. He didn't write love letters, he would just say, 'I was thinking, if you'd like to marry me the offer is still there.' Although Bronson was originally jailed for petty crime and robbery, his attacks on fellow inmates and prison officers have seen his sentences extended to total five decades. 'I feel sorry for him, that he's still in prison. It's a shame when you put it into context. Everyone assumes he murdered someone but he didn't," says Linda. 'He just drove authorities mad for so many years with his antics. What he did wasn't that big and he's been in there forever.' Linda, who was released on parole in 2008, has put criminality firmly behind her and dedicated her life to her family and writing - she's published two memoirs and is about to release her fourth novel. Titled Hope, it's about three generations of women caught in the grips of London's murky underworld and many of the characters are loosely based on crooks she met. 'It's a world I came from, which makes it more real, and some characters are based on women I knew and met in prison,' she says. 'It was my late husband, George, who died from cancer nine years ago, that inspired me. He told me, 'Linda, go for it. Do your writing'. I've found my niche and I know I'm making him proud.' Hope, the second in a crime gangster trilogy, is published by Mountain Leopard Press on July 17. To preorder, visit here
Daily Mirror
2 hours ago
- Daily Mirror
Huge EV boost as new chargers planned for UK add 249 miles in just 5 minutes
EV drivers tired of slow charges are in for a major boost as automotive giant prepares to roll out its ultra-fast 'Flash Charges' across the UK, dramatically enhancing the country's EV infrastructure Brits with electric vehicles (EVs) are set to experience a giant leap forward in charging technology - but there's one small catch. Chinese automotive giant BYD is preparing to bring its ultra-fast 'Flash Chargers' across the UK in a move set to dramatically enhance the UK's EV infrastructure, making charging quicker and more convenient than ever before. The new chargers, capable of delivering up to 1 megawatt (1,000 kW) of power, are engineered to reduce charging times substantially. However, these new technologies won't be rolled out in the UK until 2026, meaning EV owners will have to wait months before getting their hands on the super-fast chargers. The news comes shortly after BYD announced the creation of its own ultra-fast EV charger, representing a major step forward in the industry. It stands out for its remarkable capability — it can add approximately 1.2 miles of range every second, meaning drivers could gain up to 249 miles of range in just five minutes. EV sales hit 315k in 72 hours for one car brand as 500-mile range car launches This speed is comparable to the time it takes to refuel traditional internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles, effectively closing the gap between electric and petrol/diesel cars in terms of convenience and usability. The rollout of these high-speed chargers is expected to make EV ownership significantly more attractive to a broader range of drivers. In an exclusive interview with the Independent, BYD special advisor Alfredo Altavilla confirmed the company's ambitious plans. He stated: "In 2026. You will get a few stations in every country in Europe. They will be branded BYD, but they will be open to everybody." So while Flash Chargers will carry BYD branding, they will be accessible to all electric vehicle owners, not just those driving the manufacturer's models. But it's important to note that only vehicles equipped to handle megawatt-level charging will be able to take full advantage of the fastest charging speeds these stations will offer. BYD's latest car tech — the Super e-Platform — features a 1,000V high-voltage architecture with a Flash Charging Battery. It is available in the Han L and Tang L models, which can already be ordered in China. BYD's advisor told the Independent that Denza — the manufacturer's more upmarket brand — models would debut BYD's new technology across the UK and Europe, along with SUVs and sports cars from BYD's luxury brand Yangwang. Altavilla said: "The idea is for Denza and Yangwang to be the so-called technology manifesto of the BYD group. Those are the two brands where all new technologies will be firstly introduced. So, the flash charging for example." The introduction of BYD's Flash Chargers represents a major milestone in the evolution of EV infrastructure in the UK. With the ability to add nearly 250 miles of range in just five minutes, these chargers promise to make EVs even more practical and appealing for everyday use. As the UK moves towards a more environmentally friendly future, such innovations are set to play a crucial role in accelerating the adoption of greener technology and reducing our reliance on planet-killing fossil fuels.
Daily Mirror
6 hours ago
- Daily Mirror
378 pub closures expected across UK as industry body issues alert
Thousands of jobs could be lost in the fray as pubs are finding it 'impossible' to turn a profit The UK faces the prospect of losing more than one boozer daily, as the British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA) pleads with ministers to slash the tax and regulatory burden weighing down the hospitality sector. The organisation predicts 378 pubs will be forced to call last orders permanently across England, Wales and Scotland. Currently, the scorching weather has provided a welcome lift for pub trade as Brits rush to beer gardens to soak up the sun with a refreshing drink. However, most of the of cash flowing into pubs is making its way straight to the Treasury, industry experts explained. The association revealed that for every £3 spent at a pub, £1 heads directly "to the tax man". The BBPA also highlighted the knock-on impact these shutdowns will have on hospitality employment, breweries and even agricultural workers. The BBPA's statistics represent a troubling jump from last year's data, which recorded 350 pub closures. The organisation attributes this surge to hefty business rates imposed on establishments alongside other pub-specific expenses such as beer duty and VAT. Compounding matters is the employer's national insurance contributions hike introduced in April and fresh waste disposal regulations that have ramped up expenses for glass bottle recycling. BBPA members produce 90% of British beer and operate over 20,000 pubs, according to Sky News. The association cautioned that these closures could result in more than 5,600 job losses. Emma McClarkin, the chief executive of the BBPA, said: 'Pubs are trading well but most of the money that goes into the till goes straight back out in bills and taxes. "For many it's impossible to make a profit which all too often leads to pubs turning off the lights for the last time. When a pub closes it puts people out of a job, deprives communities of their heart and soul, and hurts the local economy. "However, it's not too late to change this sad state of affairs. We know Government recognises the economic and social value of pubs and we're not asking for special treatment, we just want the sector's rich potential unleashed. "We're calling on Government to proceed with meaningful business rates reform, mitigate these eye-watering new employment and EPR costs, and cut beer duty." By reducing cumulative tax and regulatory burdens on the industry, the government could drive more investment and jobs. While also safeguarding venues beloved by the public and in some cases are the last remaining establishments for communities to get together, according to the trade body. The association noted that pubs are often disproportionately affected by business tax rates in particular. These are based on a property's value, estimated by the Valuation Office Agency in terms of how much it would cost to rent the premises. Pubs, typically housed in high-value buildings, often operate on slim profit margins. With the added burden of extended producer responsibility costs, the pub sector has shelled out an extra £60million a year, as reported by The Guardian. The Labour government has confirmed plans to overhaul the existing business rates system. However, the industry is still eagerly awaiting an interim report that was due over the summer.
