A music fan has described how scammers hijacked her Instagram account to sell fake Oasis tickets to her friends, stealing £1,400. Lauren Jones* was targeted after hackers gained access to her account and posted an offer for four tickets to the band's Wembley Stadium gig on 26 July.
The fraudsters impersonated Jones so convincingly that her sister and former colleagues believed the tickets were genuine. Victims were asked to pay into a Revolut account, with the scammers claiming it belonged to the friend who originally bought the tickets. Jones only realised something was wrong when her phone pinged with verification messages for her other accounts.
Official data shows £1.6m was lost to gig ticket fraud last year, more than double the previous year. Lloyds Banking Group reported that Oasis fans lost over £2m by March 2025, with an average loss of £436 per victim. Some fans handed over more than £1,700.
Cybersecurity experts warn that scammers are using hacked social media accounts to exploit trust. Jake Moore of ESET said: 'It's not an Oasis Facebook group which is completely random – buying tickets there would be a complete gamble. Instead, they're buying from people they know, or friends of friends – they're verified.'
Jones remains locked out of her account after three weeks, with Instagram refusing to acknowledge the fraud. The platform did not respond to requests for comment. Santander's head of fraud risk management, Chris Ainsley, noted that scammers often use the highlight tool to amplify fraudulent posts, making the scam 'grow very quickly'.
