Imagine going through the process of scoring concert or event tickets, only to have them disappear from your account one day. It happened to a San Diego woman who contacted Sergio Flores from NBC 7 and Telemundo 20 Responds for help.
We all know how difficult it is to buy concert tickets these days as we fight to get the best seats. Now imagine losing those tickets you fought so hard for in an instant.
That's what happened to Breauna Hannon from San Diego, who was happy to get tickets to Korn's show in Los Angeles on Saturday. She planned on attending the show with a friend who was coming from Arkansas.
"We've been longtime fans, and we've never seen them in concert," Hannon said. "But we heard that they put on a great show so we were really excited."
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That excitement hit a sour note a week and a half ago when an email appeared in Hannon's account, though, saying her tickets had been transferred to someone else, someone she didn't know.
“Oh, I was devastated," Hannon said. "So I reached out to Ticketmaster and submitted a claim, and I didn't hear back."
Hannon posted a comment on Ticketmaster's Instagram and her comment got replies from others saying the same thing had happened to them. NBC 7 Responds saw similar comments and complaints about not being able to contact anyone at the ticket company.
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“Someone had said that they reached out to their local news, and then after that, they got their tickets back, so I figured as a last resort, I would try that,” Hannon said.
After contacting NBC 7 Responds, we sent an email to Ticketmaster and immediately afterward, she got her tickets back.
Meanwhile, the company sent us the following statement:
“Overall our digital ticketing innovations have greatly reduced fraud compared to the days of paper tickets and duplicated PDFs. Having that digital history is also how we were able to investigate the situation and restore Ms. Hannon's tickets.”
Ticketmaster Vice President Kaitlin Henrich recently spoke with NBC News about security concerns and what the company is doing to crack down on these scams.
“Ticketmaster invests a ton of time effort and resources," Henrich said "You know, for us, your ticket is gonna be tied to your individual account.”
Ticketmaster and its parent company, Live Nation, however, suffered a data breach in April and now face a class action lawsuit alleging 560 million users’ phone numbers, email addresses and encrypted credit card information were among the data accessed.
“It was actually a third-party database," Henrich said. "It was not our core ticketing systems. People's Ticketmaster account passwords were not compromised.”
Cybersecurity experts say scammers can easily find reused passwords on the dark web and access your accounts. To avoid being hacked, use separate strong passwords for each account and only buy from trusted sites. The Better Business Bureau recommends researching the company first, paying with a credit card and knowing the refund policy. Always look for suppliers who protect buyers.
In the meantime, Hannon is keeping an eye on her tickets until Saturday's concert and hopes no one else has to go through what she did to get them back.
“I have been changing my password every day," Hannon said. "We’re still scared that they’re going to get stolen out of our account again."
Ticketmaster said it's especially important to use strong, unique passwords for your email, which NBC 7 has learned is where security issues often originate.
