If you failed the fastest finger first test, you are not the only one. There have been lakhs if not crores who have failed with you. But in case, you have missed out on securing ICC World Cup 2023 tickets for your favourite team, there may be scams headed to your email inbox. Advisory: Don’t fall for those.
With millions of people heading to BookMyShow to book World Cup 2023 tickets, expectedly, many missed out. Technical glitches amid huge demand led to the platform crashing more often than not. However, some fans may be desperate to get one in any of the 12 venues. And to take advantage of that, scam stars are waiting for you to make the mistake.
Ticket black marketing booms
A quick Google Search can give you sponsored search results of resellers. Viagogo and Ticombo are platforms for white-collar black-marketing of tickets. One can sell a ticket to those two platforms for a profit and they can profit on fans’ enthusiasm. The good thing is those tickets are authentic.
The bad thing is that profiteering on enthusiasm has been a great business all over the globe. However, the minimum ticket price is Rs 9,500. And in case, you are not born with a silver spoon, you may feel cheated. Some tickets are priced at Rs 56 lakh.
Those who feel cheated can now move over to Facebook Marketplace. And you will find tickets for a lot cheaper price than what Viagogo and Ticombo can offer. Only problem, they too are steeply priced. For example, tickets are being sold for anywhere between 100% to 10,000% markups. A few days later, Twitter (X) will pop up with such ads for tickets.
Some of the cheaper options may also be fake tickets. There have been incidents in IPL as well as World Cup 2011 when fans have ended up buying fake tickets. Those look authentic too but look for poor print or paper quality.
But beware, getting tickets through such shady places could land you in jail. It must be noted that selling and purchasing tickets in India on the black market is a criminal offence under the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
Beware of World Cup 2023 ticket phishing scams
However, if you are still waiting for cheaper options after trying your best to get one, you are out of luck as well. You can see plenty of emails in your inbox claiming to be authentic sellers with cheaper options. But don’t fall for those.
Scam stars have already begun phishing innocent fans through such emails. The emails generally provide a link to buy tickets online. The emails may look very close to the ones from BookMyShow or other ticket sellers. Note that in India, only BookMyShow has the authority to sell World Cup 2023 tickets.
If you happen to click on any such spoofed emails, beware! It may lead to a major cybersecurity incident. Hackers can not only steal your data stored on the browser using session tokens or user ID and password but some sophisticated users can even get into your company’s accounts if you are using an office laptop/desktop/mobile device.
“Some of the most common cyber threats that see a rise are the use of fake accounts and misleading ads that lure users to click and even make a purchase at certain events. The misleading ads often manipulate users with ‘too-good-to-be-true deals’ and leads them to their phished or spoofed website. Eventually, the users end up entering their personal information to access the benefits and become a victim of the phishing scam,” Amit Relan, Co-Founder and CEO of mFilterIt, an ad fraud prevention company, told News18.
World Cup 2023 Tickets: Do’s & Don’ts
- It’s disappointing but buy only on BookMyShow as it is the only official seller in India.
- Do not click on any ticket offers in email inbox.
- Check for the email address from where the email has been sent.
- Skip those too-good-to-be-true offers or package deals. They are usually scams.
- Look out for poorly constructed emails.
- Phishing emails are usually poorly written in English with misspelt words or grammatical errors.
- Do not click on any suspicious emails or messages on social media sites.
- Check ICC website/social handles for more information on tickets. There could be a few more made available soon.
- Fake Tickets: But if you were too eager and already got one from the Facebook marketplace, check whether the ticket is fake. Look for clues in poor quality of paper/ writings on such tickets.
- If you come across any such emails or websites, notify India Cybersecurity helpline number at 1930.
- Report the incident on cybercrime.gov.in.
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