News Reader.info

MEN INVESTIGATION: VICTIMS WERE INUNDATED WITH CALLS FROM FRIENDS AND ACQUAINTANCES WHEN ‘VERY CONVINCING’ POSTS IN THEIR NAMES APPEARED ON THEIR FACEBOOK WALLS OFFERING OASIS TICKETS. BETH

ABBIT REPORTS. 07:09, 01 Jun 2025 Oasis fans say they have lost hundreds of pounds in a ‘sophisticated’ and ‘creepy’ Facebook scam targeting those desperate for tickets to the band’s UK

tour. One victim lost £550, while another says she chased Facebook 13 times asking for her hijacked account to be deleted - but it remains online six months later. The _Manchester Evening

News_ spoke to two Facebook account holders who say their profiles were hijacked by fraudsters and used to scam their friends. Both say the scammers used their parlance and vocal mannerisms

to trick contacts into believing they were talking to someone they knew. Both were inundated with calls from friends and acquaintances when ‘very convincing’ posts in their names appeared on

their Facebook walls. And though they admit they aren’t actually Oasis fans themselves, they insist their deactivated or rarely used accounts were used specifically to target fans of the

group. Article continues below Meta, which runs Facebook, said it takes the safety and security of its community seriously and encourages everyone to create a strong password, enable two

factor authentication and to be suspicious of emails or messages asking for personal details. Anyone who is concerned they may have been hacked can visit the help centre to secure their

account. More information about how to keep your account safe is here. But those at the heart of this pernicious scam fear it is ‘snowballing’ as excitement for the Oasis reunion tour ramps

up. Lloyds Banking Group recently revealed that Oasis fans have lost over £2 million to ticket scams in the past year, with one person losing £1,700 on the band’s reunion tour. ‘I WANT MY

£165 BACK’ Curtis Manning says he rarely uses Facebook but received a notification telling him someone had tried to log in around a month ago. “I didn’t know anything was happening. Then a

lad in work came up to me and said ‘have you still got those Oasis tickets?’ and I was like ‘what are you talking about’,” he says. “The next two or three days I must have had 20 to 30

people ringing me asking for tickets. A few people said they had sent the money to someone called Josh. To this Josh’s account details. “One guy lost £165. But he realised it was a scam

almost immediately and rang me straight away. “People were ringing me saying ‘I want my £165 back’. “There are two of my mates who have not spoken to me since and have not accepted my friend

request on my new account.” Lorry driver Curtis, from Bury, was unable to access his old account, so set up a new profile warning people about the ‘whopper’ who ‘took control’ of his old

account and asking them not to buy tickets from there. “Please do not buy any f***ing Oasis tickets off them as it’s not me it’s a scam my old profile got hacked also please please please

report it and share that it’s not me before someone does get scammed out of there hard earned money,” he wrote. He says the post advertising tickets in his name was shared in a Facebook

story and then shared in several local groups such as My Bury and Radcliffe Buy Sell and Swap. “It snowballed. It just went further and further and further,” he says. “I was telling my mates

to ignore it and they were all warning people and reporting the profile as fraudulent but it was already in local groups. And I couldn’t retrieve my profile. I had been kicked out. “The

thing is £165 a ticket - if you’ve grafted, once you’ve parted with that cash, that’s really going to affect you quite a lot. “I felt like absolute crap. People were ringing me and I was

saying ‘it’s not me’ but that’s what you would say if it was you. I felt like I couldn’t convince them.” Curtis, 35, says the whole experience has made him ‘paranoid’ about using social

media. “When you type those words in that post into Facebook there are loads of the same messages in the same format,” he says. “All the people who were seeing the message were people who go

to gigs and like Oasis - so I don’t know how they’ve targeted them. It looks like hundreds of people have been targeted. It’s a big operation. “I don’t trust anything online anymore. I

don’t know how the scammers have not been caught because the account details are out there and they seem to be targeting lots of people. “It’s 100 per cent a believable scam. “To be honest,

I wouldn’t actually buy Oasis tickets because I’m more of a Stone Roses fan. And Happy Mondays. They’re the Manchester bands for me.” ‘IT WAS IN HER VOICE’ Londoner Charlie Smith, 30, was

hoping to secure three tickets for Oasis’ Saturday July 26 gig at Wembley. A longtime fan, she jumped at the chance when she saw what she believed was her friend Chrissy Moneypenny

advertising four tickets at face value in November last year. But Chrissy’s Facebook account had been hijacked by scammers. They responded to a private message from Charlie and asked her to

send £550 to a private account. “It was in her voice. I feel like they must have used AI to sound like her,” Charlie says. “She was answering these messages and it really sounded like her.

Using her mannerisms. They sent some screengrabs of the tickets being sent over. I sent her some money and that’s when they stopped replying. “That’s when it occurred to me. I rang her a few

times and she didn’t pick up. I kept messaging but she had been kicked out of her social media. “A couple of days later she rang me and said she had been hacked. I felt like such an idiot.

“The person blocked me and deleted everything so I couldn’t report it to the police.” Charlie reported the fraud to Monzo who refunded her £400. “I had sat in the queue for seven hours

trying to get Oasis tickets when they first went on sale and didn’t manage so I thought this was a great chance to buy them from someone I knew,” she says. “The scammer said they were

selling them for their cousin. It was a meticulous story they had crafted. “I felt pretty violated. My partner messaged this person asking for the money back and they said ‘I will - in a

million years’. “That’s when you realise it’s an actual person doing this. It’s pretty messed up. And it’s made me scared for my own cyber safety.” SOPHISTICATED AND CREEPY Chrissy says she

‘felt hideous’ when she learned that someone had hacked her previously deactivated account to scam Charlie. “It’s so frustrating being the person whose account is hacked because there’s

nothing you can do,” she says. “They are very very clever, the people doing this. It’s really sophisticated.” Personal trainer Chrissy says the fraudsters changed the email address linked to

her Facebook account and although she contacted Meta to report the matter, the hacked account remains online. Although she knows for certain that Charlie lost money in the scam, she fears

others may also have lost out in the fraud in her name. “I deactivated the account almost two years ago and had not been on Facebook all that time,” she explains. “Then suddenly I had

messages saying ‘can you save the tickets for me’. “I thought ‘what are all these messages about?’. Then another friend said she thought my account had been hacked. “I didn’t understand

because I had not used Facebook for so long. But there was nothing I could do. They went into my account and changed the email address that all the messages went to, so I didn’t see any of

it. “I reported it to Facebook over and over and got the same generic message saying ‘we are looking into it’. “So I sent a group message on WhatsApp telling everyone to ignore that account.

In the end I was telling people to write warnings on my wall because I had no way of getting on there. “What’s odd is the people who are messaging the friends who asked about the tickets

are using my voice. I don’t know if they are using AI or something to write like me. As though they’ve looked over my old posts. “It’s really creepy and so scary. “I had correspondence from

Facebook saying the account had been deleted but it hasn’t. I must have reported it about 13 times.” Chrissy has reported the matter to ActionFraud and Facebook. ADVICE FROM ACTIONFRAUD

Action Fraud - the national fraud and cybercrime reporting service - says £9,794,034 was lost nationally to ticket fraud last year, up from £6,694,955 in 2023. There were 9,826 ticket fraud

reports in 2024, up from 8,719 in 2023. Experts are urging people to stay alert for criminals who are trying to sell tickets online or on social media for top events and sold-out concerts

this summer - including the Oasis Reunion Tour. Claire Webb, acting director of Action Fraud, said those looking for last minute ticket deals must recognise the signs of ticket fraud.

“Beware of fraudsters trying to take advantage by selling fake tickets to popular or sold-out events online or on social media, especially if you receive unsolicited or unexpected messages

offering tickets,” she said. “Protect yourself from ticket fraud: ensure you buy your tickets securely by checking for the STAR logo, and using either an official agent, a reputable ticket

exchange site or going directly to the venue’s box office. Requests for payment via bank transfer is a sign of fraud: always pay with a credit card if you can. Follow Action Fraud’s advice

for more tips on how to protect yourself.” Experts say the kind of fraud experienced by Chrissy, Curtis and Charlie is known as on-platform chain hacking. This is when a fraudster gains

control of an account and begins to impersonate the legitimate owner. Action Fraud and Meta have launched a campaign encouraging people to enable 2-Step Verification for each online account.

They also suggest ensuring each password is strong and uses three random words. David Agranovich, security policy director at Meta, said: “Scammers are relentless and continuously evolving

their tactics to try and evade detection, which is why we’re constantly working on new ways to keep people safe while keeping bad actors out. “Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) is one crucial

example of how people can add an extra layer of security to their Meta accounts, to help reduce the risk of scammers accessing your accounts. We’ve also started rolling out facial

recognition technology to help people get back into compromised or hacked accounts and are always working on new ways to stay ahead of scammers.” HOW TO REPORT FRAUD Report suspicious emails

by forwarding it to: [email protected] Find out how to protect yourself from fraud: https://stopthinkfraud.campaign.gov.uk Article continues below If you’ve lost money or provided your

financial information to someone, notify your bank immediately and report it to Action Fraud at actionfraud.police.uk or by calling 0300 123 2040. In Scotland, call Police Scotland on 101.

HOW TO PROTECT YOURSELF FROM TICKET FRAUD * Only buy tickets from the venue’s box office, official promoter or agent, or a well-known ticketing website. * Avoid paying for tickets by bank

transfer, especially if buying from someone unknown. Using a credit card gives you a better chance of recovering the money if you become a victim of fraud. * The password you use for your

email account, as well as any other accounts you use to purchase tickets, should be different from all your other passwords. Use three random words to create a strong and memorable password,

and enable 2-step verification (2SV). * Be wary of unsolicited emails, texts or adverts offering unbelievably good deals on tickets. * Is the vendor a member of STAR? If they are, the

company has signed up to their strict governing standards. STAR also offers an approved Alternative Dispute Resolution service to help customers with outstanding complaints. For more

information visit star.org.uk/buy_safe. If you receive a suspicious email, report it to the Suspicious Email Reporting Service (SERS) at [email protected]. For more advice on how to

stay secure online, visit cyberaware.gov.uk.