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Scammers posing as a booking agency have recently taken to soliciting bookings for a fake 2025 Arctic Monkeys concert, IQ Magazine reported. On November 28, 2024, a booking agency named 13 Artists told the publication that it has received a "deluge" of reports of concertgoers getting fraudulent emails from scammers posing as them in the last few days.
The subject of the emails is titled: "CONFIDENTIAL - Arctic Monkeys - Midnight Mirage World Tour 2025." They are sent from an email address, [email protected], asking the recipients to reply to another email address, [email protected].
According to IQ, all legitimate email addresses from the staff of 13 Artists are from @13artists.com. The fraudsters have also reportedly created a fake website - www.13-artists.net - attached to the emails. It looks almost identical to the Brighton-based agency's official website - 13artists.com.
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IQ also reports that the two phone numbers added in the fraudulent emails as well as the fake website (+44 20 3290 3795 and +44 79 0719 2974) don't belong to 13 Artists.
The Arctic Monkeys' fake tour scam follows a landslide of ticket scams faced by Oasis fans
The scam of Arctic Monkeys' fake tour comes nearly a month after the Oasis fans were subjected to ticket scams, and soon after, an Oasis reunion tour was confirmed on August 27, 2024.
An article published by Lloyds Banking Group on November 5 revealed that hundreds of Oasis fans reported being scammed while trying to purchase tickets for the upcoming reunion tour online. According to the report, in a month since the tour was announced, Oasis fans made up 70% of all reported concert ticket scam victims.
The age group between 35-44 years were most likely targets of these scams, making up a third of all the scam victims. On average, the fans lost about £346 in the scam, with some of them losing as much as £1,000.
Upon digging deeper, Lloyds Bank also found that 90% of these ticket scams originated on social media. Especially Facebook, this platform is home to many unofficial groups boasting tens of thousands of followers, dedicated to buying and selling Oasis Tour tickets. These groups are against Meta's commercial policy, which claims that the sale of concert tickets is not allowed on the platform.
In light of the frequency of concert ticket scams, the UK's Entertainment Agents' Association has now created a checklist a promoter can go through when unsure of an agency's identity.
The checklist suggests analyzing the artist's official website to verify their touring schedule and identify any conflicting plans. Fans should also double-check the email addresses of the mail they receive, especially the email domain. If it appears doubtful, one should call the agency directly from the phone number displayed on their official website (and not in the email).
Before making any deposit, fans must also have the complete contact details of their agent. They should talk to their agent over the phone at least once. Calling the agency to confirm the booking and verifying the bank account details is also recommended. Lastly, the association advises fans to stay away from offers that seem too good to be true, because they often are.
Arctic Monkeys' debut album hit a major milestone earlier this year
Despite the fake tour scam, 2024 has been a big year for the Arctic Monkeys. In June this year, the rock band from Sheffield hit a major milestone in their country.
Their debut studio album from 2006 - What People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not - completed its 500th week on the UK albums chart, making them rank among the biggest and best-selling musicians in the country.
Arctic Monkeys won this honor for a second time with their debut album. Before this, their fifth studio album titled AM from 2013 had already completed its 500th week on the chart, and was up to 561 frames on the list in June, Forbes reported.
While Arctic Monkeys haven't announced any upcoming tours at the moment, their last tour was concluded in October 2023. The indie band kickstarted The Car Tour, which was named after their seventh album, in August 2022. The tour had eight legs, started in Turkey, and ended in Dublin.
