Internet Scam Affects 1000 Streisand Tickets

Fans who bought online tickets for the upcoming Barbara Streisand tour may be out in the cold, as Ticketmaster has discovered that about 1000 tickets purchased from resellers on the Internet were initially acquired with a stolen credit card, making them invalid.

Buyer beware. That is advice we’ve all heard over and over again, and now 1000 Barbara Streisand fans have learned that lesson the expensive way. Yesterday, Ticketmaster came forward and notified consumers who bought tickets to Streisand’s upcoming tour from sites that weren’t official Ticketmaster outlets that they may have lost their money. According to MSNBC, Ticketmaster posted a warning on their website stating that they have made 1000 tickets to Barbara Streisand concerts invalid because the tickets were purchased with a stolen credit card. The way that the thieves unloaded the tickets was to sell them off on other ticket reselling sites not connected with Ticketmaster. The company president, Sean Moriarty, said in a statement to The Associated Press, “It is a serious violation of the law to try to buy concert tickets using stolen credit card information and, when successful, to resell those tickets to unknowing consumer victims through resale Web sites.”

Are you one of the unlucky fans holding a worthless ticket to Bab’s national tour? If you did purchase your ticket from an online reseller and you live in Philadelphia, New York, Washington, Sunrise, Fla., Auburn Hills, Mich., Chicago, Atlanta, Las Vegas and Atlantic City, N.J. you may want to have a look at the official Ticketmaster site. In addition to the website, Ticketmaster has also sent out e-mails to those that bought the bad tickets and are advising fans to go after the unauthorized sites for a refund and seek police involvement if necessary, according to the BBC.

Barbara Streisand has won multiple awards in both singing and acting, making her one of the most successful female entertainers in modern history. Her trophy case holds an impressive two Oscars, six Emmys, eleven Golden Globes, ten Grammys, a Tony award, two Cable Ace awards, the American Film Institute's Lifetime Achievement Award, and many others. Her film career includes such movies as Funny Girl, The Way We Were, and The Prince of Tides. As for her musical career, Streisand’s various number one albums include, Funny Girl Soundtrack, A Star is Born Sountrack, and Guilty.

[Additional Sources: MSNBC, Ticketmaster, BBC, Wikipedia]