Frustrated customers continue complaining to our NBC Bay Area Responds team about tickets disappearing. Our consumer team first shared this story a few weeks ago and is still helping fans undo unauthorized transfers.
As this Ticketmaster drama continues, we have a trio of developments: a bunch more complaints, one person whose tickets disappeared twice, and what looks like new security to stop the stealing.
“Everyone should go to more comedy shows,” San Francisco resident Alexandria Wyllie remarked.
Alas, the joke was on Wyllie, who had tickets to see comedian Dave Attell at Cobb’s Comedy Club. Ticketmaster sent an email transferring her four tickets—worth $175 —to someone named Mike Will.
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At the time, Wyllie said she "automatically just called Ticketmaster, and I was like, 'I never transferred my tickets to this person named Mike Will, I don’t know what’s going on."
Wyllie joins a list of miffed viewers around the country.
“My tickets had, in fact, been transferred to a stranger that I don’t even know,” noted Conya Harris-Carter in Texas.
National Investigations
Dozens of fans have complained to our NBC Responds and Telemundo Responde teams about unauthorized transfers of expensive tickets.
“I had no warning. They were gone,” said Blaine Heck of Connecticut about her Taylor Swift tickets.
Alexandra Passer of New Jersey said she spent “over $1,200 dollars for the six tickets that were taken” from her account.
To its credit, Ticketmaster is restoring fans’ tickets -- after we step in. In one case, twice.
“Indeed, my tickets were gone,” explained Nick of San Francisco.
Ticketmaster clawed back Nick’s stolen Taylor Swift and Imagine Dragons tickets early in October after we stepped in.
But then, two weeks later, Nick told us his tickets disappeared again. So we contacted Ticketmaster again. The company said its “fan support [DEPARTMENT] reached out to the fan to let them know the tickets were recovered.”
Nick said reps told him there were “technical issues.”
At the time, he raised a question: why don’t Ticketmaster accounts have Two-factor Authentication?
Two-factor Authentication is the security measure that sends you a verification code to log in with after you enter your password.
“My wife, to book her hairdresser appointment, needed Two-factor Authentication. It’s bonkers that you have thousands of dollars of merchandise in an account and the security is so weak,” Nick said.
Some tech experts, including the nonprofit National Cybersecurity Alliance, echoed that sentiment and said that big companies like Ticketmaster need Two-factor Authentication.
Lisa Plaggemier, executive director for the National Cybersecurity Alliance, noted “We recommend that organizations don’t just offer this to their customers, but that they turn it on by default.”
Well, it appears that might be happening. Our team’s been watching Ticketmaster’s website. We see it now says, “We’ve added Two-factor Authentication security.” There are few details, but the Ticketmaster site says it will automatically send a code to your phone when you use an “unrecognized device.”
This week, we tested it out. We didn’t need a code to log in. But we did need a code to transfer tickets. So, how new is this? We asked, but Ticketmaster didn’t answer our 2FA questions.
Wyllie said she didn’t get a code when her tickets vanished in late September and said Ticketmaster must beef up its security.
“We give our information freely to these companies, and they have a responsibility to keep our information safe,” Wyllie said.
When her Dave Attell tickets vanished, Wyllie didn’t just laugh it off. She contacted us. And we contacted Ticketmaster. It restored her tickets, just in time for her to go to the show.
“I don’t think I would have gotten this response if it wasn’t for NBC Local kind of reaching out for me,” Wyllie noted.
Ticketmaster has linked this rash of ticket thefts to fans re-using weak passwords. Some viewers don’t buy that-- because they say they changed their passwords after a summer data breach. Either way, if you have a Ticketmaster account, you might want to change that password and your personal email password to something unique. Now, make sure your mobile number is on file for two-factor authentication.
If you’re having ticket troubles too, let us know.
