Fraudsters hijack Led Zeppelin concert

The huge demand for tickets to the Led Zeppelin reunion concert has spawned a series of scams, Computeractive has discovered.

Among the genuine auctions for spare tickets to a range of events on Ebay are a number of traders who are selling non-existent tickets for thousands of pounds.

Harvey Goldsmith, rock promoter and organiser of the Led Zeppelin concert, told us: "The public are being criminally defrauded. We have written to Ebay to make it clear that there are fraudulent offers and the company has ignored us... It is about time organisations such as Ebay confront the issues and behave responsibly."

Computeractive contacted one seller on Ebay who had just sold two tickets that she said were originally intended for music journalists and corporate sponsors; she claimed she had bought the tickets from an online ticket agency.

Although our reporter was not the winning bidder, the seller contacted us and claimed the winner had failed to pay. She then quoted a price of £2,400 and said she would post the tickets to our reporter.

But we had already contacted the winning bidder via Ebay; he told us that he had already transferred £2,414 to the seller's bank account.

Mr Goldsmith said no agencies have been given tickets to sell; furthermore, sponsors and journalists would not be given tickets that could be sold. Those lucky enough to win a seat in the lottery held earlier this year will need the posted confirmation letter, a code for the seat, sent separately, and will have to present the credit or debit card used to pay for the seats.

“The ticket, the code and the correct identification all have to match or a ticket will be invalid," warned Mr Goldsmith. "Anyone who has bought a ticket from an agency will not get in and the buyer will lose their money."

One company that has a corporate box at the O2 arena told us that it would never offer its seats to members of the public.

We contacted Ebay about this scam and gave the company all the seller's details. Ebay's only response was to send a short statement that read: "Ebay believes that people have the right to resell most concert tickets and both the Government and the Office of Fair Trading have recognised that this is legitimate."

More information about admission procedures and the scams can be found on Harvey Goldsmith's website and blog.