DENMARK (vip-booking) – Several festival-goers in Denmark are at risk of disappointment as they attempt to gain access to concerts at Smukfest or Ringsted Festival in the coming week.
This year has witnessed a significant surge in reports of ticket fraud during ticket purchases. In June and July of this year, there have been 496 reported cases of ticket fraud to the police. In the same months in 2022 and 2019, the numbers were 302 and 304, respectively. On average, there have been 130 cases of ticket fraud reported per month in the first seven months of this year. In comparison, the number of reports in the previous four years has been below 50.
Ticket fraud is taking place on online sales platforms such as dba.dk or Facebook Marketplace. Many individuals are reporting that they never receive the tickets they paid for.
Other scammers are selling the same ticket to multiple buyers, resulting in only one buyer gaining access to the concert or festival. The rest are left disappointed. The situation is immensely frustrating for both guests and organizers, according to Esben Marcher, the Director of Dansk Live.
He believes that the increasing ticket fraud may be attributed to the high demand for concerts and festivals this summer.
“While it is great for organizers to see high demand, it also creates potential for those who want to deceive hopeful audience members searching for tickets,” he said to TV2.
Both Smukfest and Ringsted Festival, both taking place in the coming week, are apprehensive about ticket fraud. “It`s a dreadful experience for us, as promoters as well, and we don`t want this in any way,” Søren Eskildsen, spokesperson for Smukfest said to TV2 .
Although Smukfest has its own platform for reselling tickets to the festival, there are still people who end up buying fake tickets from other sources. “People can still become desperate when there`s something they really want. We are, of course, extremely sorry about that,” says Eskildsen.
