HOUSTON — "Queen B" fans are buzzing with excitement now that tickets for Beyoncé’s Renaissance tour are on sale.
However, there are growing concerns about scams and another potential Ticketmaster fiasco like the one for Taylor Swift tickets last year.
With all the frenzy about scoring Beyoncé tickets, Kristen Johnson with the Better Business Bureau said to watch out for scams.
"They're ignoring the red flags because they just want to get those tickets and scammers are taking advantage of that," Johnson said.
To avoid ticket scams, here’s what the BBB recommends
- Only purchase from venues or legitimate sellers on their actual websites. Avoid buying on social media and make sure resellers are trustworthy.
- Watch out for fake websites. You might think you’re on the Ticketmaster page, but scammers may steal images and change addresses by a letter or two.
- Only use protected payment methods. Don’t pay with cash, credit, or a wire transfer. Use a credit card so you can dispute charges if they end up being fraudulent.
In the meantime, lawmakers in Washington are preparing for a possible repeat of the Taylor Swift presale fiasco on Ticketmaster. It left a lot of fans empty-handed. The failure triggered a Senate hearing on the issue. The Senate Judiciary Committee tweeted at Ticketmaster, “We’re watching.”
Fred Rosen is the former CEO of Ticketmaster.
"First of all, there were fewer tickets to satisfy the demand,” Rosen said. “So that starts with problems."
Ticketmaster said demand to register for a chance to buy Taylor Swift tickets exceeded the number of available tickets by more than 800%. The company said it now uses verified fan technology to make sure more tickets to see Beyoncé go to fans and not resellers.