A music fan has told how fraudsters hijacked her Instagram account and used it to sell fake Oasis tickets to her own friends, stealing £1,400. Lauren Jones realised something was wrong on her way home from a gig when her phone began pinging with verification codes for her LinkedIn, Vinted and Facebook accounts. Within 24 hours, the hackers had advertised tickets to Oasis's Wembley Stadium concert on 26 July, fooling her unsuspecting contacts.
Jones said about 20 people contacted her saying they were about to send money for the tickets. “The hackers had impersonated me so well that my friends and family genuinely thought they were speaking to me,” she said. Even her sister believed she had tickets to sell. Only those who moved the conversation to WhatsApp or text realised the tickets did not exist. The scammers also asked a former colleague to share the posts, spreading the fraud further.
Three weeks later, Jones remains locked out of her account, with Instagram refusing to recognise it as fraudulent. The incident highlights the growing problem of gig ticket fraud. Official data shows £1.6m was lost to such scams last year, more than double the previous year. Lloyds Banking Group said Oasis fans alone lost more than £2m to fraudsters by March, with average losses of £436 – about £200 more than the average concert ticket scam.
Chris Ainsley, head of fraud risk management at Santander, described a similar scam on Facebook advertising four tickets for the same Wembley date, with the posting highlighted to the account holder's followers. Cybersecurity expert Jake Moore of ESET said using personal accounts gives victims a false sense of security. “It's not an Oasis Facebook group which is completely random – they're buying from people they know, or friends of friends – they're verified,” he said, adding that scammers can replicate a user's signing-off style.
Jones described the ordeal as “distressing not knowing what is being said in my name.” The fraudsters also sent a text demanding $100 (£75) to return her account. She hopes that by speaking out, others will be wary of even familiar accounts offering sought-after tickets.
