A huge population of Web-surfers in Britain that doesn't check for a website's security while purchasing event tickets has been found seriously vulnerable to ID-theft and fraud.
VeriSign Authentication, a division of Symantec, recently conducted a study, according to which, merely 11% of Web-surfers purchasing tickets actually paused when browsing a website because of doubts that the website's security might be insufficient. Thus, since 46% of British nationals seeking to purchase event tickets procure them through the Web, many may become innocent preys of scammers. These scammers use bogus websites promoting tickets which don't really reach the buyers, websites which are malware-laden, and websites which capture credit card and other personal information. Security expert Matthew Bruun at VeriSign Authentication remarks that festivals are very popular during the weekend of Bank Holiday in August and it's during such events that fraudsters are most active in their exploitations. Webuser reported this on August 27, 2010. Bruun continues that although such event websites may appear genuine, still consumers should be vigilant of the obvious fraud indications such as an absence of contact details like a phone number and a valid postal address, or weak spellings. He adds that a Web-surfer can check a website's authenticity via looking for the green color in the browser's address bar. Meanwhile, during ticket scams, the majority of victims do not realize that they've been scammed until immediately prior to the event. This is so due to the devious websites that rarely provide the contact details of the companies, including their names. Cyber-criminals exploit music lovers' enthusiasm during music festivals like Reading and Leeds as fans do not verify for a website's genuineness. A research that Viagogo an online ticket agency conducted during May 2010 too disclosed that British festivals' and live gigs' fans were being scammed off 30m pounds annually. Further, 1 in 7 buyers of a live function's ticket was defrauded off through a phony Internet site. Over 70% of scams associated with live music shows. And, as an ordinary British customer spent 50 pounds per ticket, it turned out a thriving enterprise for online criminals, the research found.
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