5 Effective Ways to Prevent Event Ticket Fraud and Scalping

Event organizers and their teams work tirelessly to make every event successful and memorable for the attendees. The result of their hard work is reflected in the ticket sales. Every organizer begins to sell tickets with a lot of expectation. However, ticket fraud and scalping ruin the journey for both organizers and attendees.

As a result, tickets vanish from the main website even before genuine buyers get a chance to buy. Soon, they reappear on third-party websites at much higher prices. This is one of the biggest concerns of event organizers today, which puts them under huge pressure. Digitization of event ticketing has not only made the process convenient for organizers and attendees but also opened the door for scammers.

That is why it is essential for you to take steps to prevent event ticket fraud and scalping. In this article, you will learn about event ticket scalping and fraud in the digital era and five result-oriented ways to combat them.

Understanding ticket fraud and scalping in the digital era

Ticket scalping and fraud are not new to the event industry. In the past, these practices mostly took place outside the event venue where people resold event tickets at inflated prices. The scenario has drastically changed. As the event industry embraces smarter digital solutions, fraudsters and scalpers have also modernized their way of exploiting the system.  

With the advent of online ticketing, secondary marketplaces, and automated bots, scalpers get better opportunities to buy event tickets in bulk quickly and resell them at much higher prices. Moreover, the business of fake e-tickets and digital duplication is also on the rise. There is no denying that digital ticketing systems have made it easy for event organizers and attendees to buy and sell tickets, but they have also given birth to an increasing demand for stronger security measures to prevent event scalping and fraud.

How automated scalping works?

Ticket scalpers mainly rely on bots to attack websites in three steps, which are mentioned below:

• Tracking targeted websites: Scammers begin their journey by closely tracking their target ecommerce or event websites through bots. WordPress being one of the most popular CMSes in the world, is often targeted by hackers.  They also keep an eye on the social media feeds of their targeted businesses to find out about new products launches and other event ticket related updates. Using these bots they create fake accounts automatically and move to their next step.

• Adding items to shopping cart: Scalper bots are created to complete the checkout process even before the genuine buyers. In order to make bulk ticket purchases without being caught, they need to pass through multiple security measures like captchas etc.

• Automated checkout: Here comes the final step when the scalper bots finally complete the bulk event ticket purchases. These bots quickly create new accounts or pose as guest users to purchase tickets. They use multiple credit cards to prevent card blocking while purchasing tickets.

Effective ways to prevent event ticket fraud and scalping

Event ticketing fraud prevention with anti ticket fraud strategies is essential to ensure a secure ticketing process.

Here are some effective ways to prevent event ticket scalping and fraud:

1. Digital ticketing with access control

The concept of digital ticketing has redefined the way events are accessed with QR codes and Near Field Communication, that have been proven to be highly effective in restricting unauthorized resales. QR codes are known to boost ticket security by preventing duplication, whereas NFC technology allows contactless entry, which eliminates the scope of ticket loss or theft. These technologies seamlessly manage event access and maintain security with identity verification and time-bounded entry.  

Pro tip: If you want to embrace digital ticketing with QR protection, go for the Sell tickets add-on of WP Event Manager that helps you transform your ordinary events website into a digital ticketing platform. Secure your events today!

2. Blockchain and NFT tickets

Blockchain and NFT tickets create a strong barrier against fraudsters. Blockchain refers to a shared digital ledger that can not be edited or tampered with. Anything that is recorded here stays there forever. On the other hand, NFT tickets are event tickets used as digital tokens on that blockchain.

Other advantages of blockchain and NFT tickets include:

• Organizers can set rules as per requirement. For example, limiting resale prices, allowing resale on specific platforms etc.
• Payments can be easily tracked. 
• Such tickets can not be copied.
• Each ticket carries detailed ownership history.

All the above mentioned advantages make blockchain and NFT tickets one of the best choices for highly demanding events. However, the technical complexity may create an obstacle for organizers to adopt the new technology.

3. Predictive analytics and machine learning

The term predictive analytics signifies the practice of using past data to predict the future behavior. When it comes to event ticketing, it shows "who is likely to commit fraud?". Machine learning keeps analyzing new data to improve the detection process. The combined power of predictive analysis and machine learning helps users identify any suspicious activity on their ticketing platform so that it could be stopped immediately without any harm.

Graph technology is incorporated with predictive analytics and machine learning to enhance its utility. It simply maps the relationship among devices, users, IP addresses, payment methods, and accounts. It identifies fraud networks instead of individuals because most ticket fraud and scalping are carried out by a network.

4. Own your data

Data ownership plays a pivotal role in preventing ticket fraud and event ticket scalping. As an event organizer, you must have full control over ticket buyers, including their device location, purchasing pattern, history related to refund and cancellation, etc. Such data helps you detect:

• Users with multi purchases.
• Recurring transactions through similar IPs
• Sudden increase in ticket purchases.

Owning attendee data enables you to apply machine learning models, modify rules as per audience behavior, and integrate your preferred fraud detection tools.

5. Run presales with access code

Running a presale means offering an early ticket sale to a specific group of people through access code. Buyers will need an access code to utilize the sale. You can share the access code with your top fans, credit card partners, email subscribers, regular attendees, VIPs or community members.

Usually real fans would purchase tickets during the presale which reduces demand during public sale. Moreover, the access code helps filter bots, remove fraud, and improve user experience on your event ticketing platform.

Wrapping up

Ticket fraud and scalping are evolving challenges, but they are not impossible to tackle. With the help of strong ticket fraud prevention strategies, like the use of smart technology, strict policies, and regular monitoring, you can create a secure and fair ticketing environment.

You can start by embracing digital tickets and access control, blockchain and NFT tickets and adopting predictive analytics and machine learning. These steps will not only prevent event ticket fraud and event ticket scalping but also improve your user experience.