A lot has changed since the days of queuing up for festival and concert tickets. Nowadays all it takes is a click of the mouse and you should be set to see some of your favourite acts.
Whether you're heading for a festival this summer or thrilled at the thought of Michael Jackson's farewell gigs in London, the scramble for tickets starts now.
But not everyone will get what they've paid for, because every year 30,000 people book from a website that's a con.
Watchdog has investigated dodgy ticket websites before, but this time, we want to stop you getting fleeced in the first place. Whether you're after a hot ticket for Reading, or for Cliff Richard, we reveal the sites to avoid booking with this year so you won't get ripped off.
It's information James Morris wishes he'd known, when he was booking for last year's Isle of Wight Festival. Even though the official sites said the event was sold out, James found another website with tickets for sale. These cost £250, much more than face value, but he was desperate to go, and paid. Then he wished he hadn't.
"About two weeks before the festival I think it just dawned on me that these tickets were never going to come through."
Sure enough, the tickets never arrived. Fortunately, James did manage to find a ticket when another friend had to cancel, but he was still left out of pocket and with no refund from the company he had booked with.
Among the bands performing at that festival were Starsailor. Lead singer James Walsh isn't happy that while fans miss out someone's cashing in.
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He says: "It's just extremely disappointing, you feel bad as an artist that people are making money off your name and ultimately the people that you want to get to the shows aren't getting to them. All the money's going to often pretty shady characters."
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Tickets for some of this year's festivals aren't yet on sale. However, that hasn't stopped dozens of unauthorised websites claiming to have tickets to sell. Festival organisers are worried that, yet again, fans will be taken in and pay money for tickets they never receive.
Melvin Benn, director of Reading and Leeds Festival, says that these scam websites are a 'massive problem'. He says the websites target the big shows where they know that they can make a lot of money from fans.
"We had 3,000 turn up at Reading last year and 2,000 at Leeds. They'd all got a print out from their computer, they'd all paid their money. They thought that they'd bought a ticket but they hadn't. They'd bought a scam."
The official sites for this year's Reading and Leeds Festivals aren't yet up and running. But tickets are already being offered on sites that look authentic and even use what appears to be the proper logo.
Melvin warns fans to steer well clear: "Tickets are not even on sale so you know they haven't got tickets, and they're not going to get tickets."
The people behind sites like these aren't just going after festival goers. They're also targeting fans of some of the biggest names in the business.
Tina Turner's currently touring the UK. Julia Tilley was determined to get tickets for her mum - a massive fan - and found tickets for sale on tinaturnerworldtour.com.
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Julia lost £256. She was finally able to get her mum to the show - but only after forking out hundreds of pounds more.
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Ticket fraud expert Reg Walker says the key to buying safely is checking out a site before clicking on the 'buy' button.
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Reg says: "People should do their homework on these websites. You should be looking for a UK registered office, a UK registered company, a UK phone number, a VAT registration number. Look for things you can verify."
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For every major event and big act there are websites that spring up trying to cash in. Already there are 13 websites offering tickets for Michael Jackson's London shows, despite the fact they're not yet on sale.
*
Two years ago, Government minister Tessa Jowell told Watchdog that her over-riding concern was to "protect fans". But*the Government did nothing, deciding self-regulation was best for the industry, even though that's meant tens of thousands more people have lost out.
The Government is looking at this again and this time they need to get tough otherwise this summer there'll be plenty more music fans who'll end up ripped-off.
Here are more sites the experts say you should avoid:
Avoid scam festival tickets
Whether you're heading for a festival this summer or thrilled at the thought of Michael Jackson's farewell gigs in London, the scramble for tickets starts now.
But not everyone will get what they've paid for, because every year 30,000 people book from a website that's a con.
Watchdog has investigated dodgy ticket websites before, but this time, we want to stop you getting fleeced in the first place. Whether you're after a hot ticket for Reading, or for Cliff Richard, we reveal the sites to avoid booking with this year so you won't get ripped off.
It's information James Morris wishes he'd known, when he was booking for last year's Isle of Wight Festival. Even though the official sites said the event was sold out, James found another website with tickets for sale. These cost £250, much more than face value, but he was desperate to go, and paid. Then he wished he hadn't.
"About two weeks before the festival I think it just dawned on me that these tickets were never going to come through."
Sure enough, the tickets never arrived. Fortunately, James did manage to find a ticket when another friend had to cancel, but he was still left out of pocket and with no refund from the company he had booked with.
Among the bands performing at that festival were Starsailor. Lead singer James Walsh isn't happy that while fans miss out someone's cashing in.
*
He says: "It's just extremely disappointing, you feel bad as an artist that people are making money off your name and ultimately the people that you want to get to the shows aren't getting to them. All the money's going to often pretty shady characters."
*
Tickets for some of this year's festivals aren't yet on sale. However, that hasn't stopped dozens of unauthorised websites claiming to have tickets to sell. Festival organisers are worried that, yet again, fans will be taken in and pay money for tickets they never receive.
Melvin Benn, director of Reading and Leeds Festival, says that these scam websites are a 'massive problem'. He says the websites target the big shows where they know that they can make a lot of money from fans.
"We had 3,000 turn up at Reading last year and 2,000 at Leeds. They'd all got a print out from their computer, they'd all paid their money. They thought that they'd bought a ticket but they hadn't. They'd bought a scam."
The official sites for this year's Reading and Leeds Festivals aren't yet up and running. But tickets are already being offered on sites that look authentic and even use what appears to be the proper logo.
Melvin warns fans to steer well clear: "Tickets are not even on sale so you know they haven't got tickets, and they're not going to get tickets."
The people behind sites like these aren't just going after festival goers. They're also targeting fans of some of the biggest names in the business.
Tina Turner's currently touring the UK. Julia Tilley was determined to get tickets for her mum - a massive fan - and found tickets for sale on tinaturnerworldtour.com.
*
Julia lost £256. She was finally able to get her mum to the show - but only after forking out hundreds of pounds more.
*
Ticket fraud expert Reg Walker says the key to buying safely is checking out a site before clicking on the 'buy' button.
*
Reg says: "People should do their homework on these websites. You should be looking for a UK registered office, a UK registered company, a UK phone number, a VAT registration number. Look for things you can verify."
*
For every major event and big act there are websites that spring up trying to cash in. Already there are 13 websites offering tickets for Michael Jackson's London shows, despite the fact they're not yet on sale.
*
Two years ago, Government minister Tessa Jowell told Watchdog that her over-riding concern was to "protect fans". But*the Government did nothing, deciding self-regulation was best for the industry, even though that's meant tens of thousands more people have lost out.
The Government is looking at this again and this time they need to get tough otherwise this summer there'll be plenty more music fans who'll end up ripped-off.
Here are more sites the experts say you should avoid:
- cliffrichardtour.com
- vfestival2009.net
- tinaturnerworldtour.com
- downloadfestival2009.com
- worldticketshop.com
- theonlineticketshop.com
- double8tickets.com
Avoid scam festival tickets