"Queen B" fans are buzzing with excitement! Tickets for Beyonce's Renaissance Tour went on sale Monday for the first group of verified fans, and there are growing concerns about both concert scams and another potential Ticketmaster fiasco, like the one involving Taylor Swift tour tickets last fall.
With desperate and eager fans taking to crowd-funding sites to raise money for the much-anticipated concert, the Better Business Bureau says scams are very likely, so beware before you buy into the frenzy. "They're ignoring the red flags because they just want to get those tickets and scammers are taking advantage of that," says Kristen Johnson, Better Business Bureau director of communications.
Meanwhile, lawmakers in Washington are all bracing for a possible repeat of the Taylor Swift presale fiasco on Ticketmaster that left countless fans empty handed and triggered a Senate hearing on the issue.
The Senate judiciary committee tweeting at Ticketmaster-- "we're watching." "First of all, there were fewer tickets to satisfy the demand. So that starts with problem," says Fred Rosen, former Ticketmaster CEO.
Ticketmaster says demand to register for a chance to buy tickets exceeded the number of available tickets by more than 800%.
However, they say they are taking new measures to avoid another debacle, claiming it will use verified fan technology to make sure more tickets go to fans and not resellers.
Here's what the BBB recommends to avoid scams.
- Only purchase from venues or legitimate sellers on their actual websites.
- Avoid buying on social media and verify trustworthy re-sellers and vendors on BBB.org.
- Only use protected payment methods.
- Don't pay cash, debit, or wire transfer and opt for a credit card instead-- since it may be easier to dispute fraudulent charges.
Experts also say be on the lookout for fake websites. "So, you think you're on Ticketmaster's website, but you really aren't. They will copy and paste the same pictures and they'll just change the words of the name of the company by one or two letters in the URL," warns Johnson.
According to the Ticketmaster website, the North American leg of Beyonce's tour opens in Toronto on July 8, and closes in New Orleans on Sept. 27.