Carousell suspends sale of Taylor Swift concert tickets to combat potential scams
The two weeks leading up to Taylor Swift's Eras tour concerts are "prime" for scammers taking advantage of last-minute efforts to buy tickets, says Carousell.
Taylor Swift will perform six shows from Mar 2 in Singapore, her only stop in Southeast Asia. (Image: REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon, Singapore Sports Hub)
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SINGAPORE: Consumer marketplace Carousell is moving to suspend the sale of Taylor Swift concert tickets ahead of her shows in Singapore, noting that ticket scams rise in the lead-up to her shows globally.
Ticket sales for her concerts will be suspended from Friday (Feb 23) to Mar 9. Existing listings will be removed by Feb 26, said Carousell.
The move affects Carousell's platforms in Singapore, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Taiwan.
The US pop sensation has six sold-out shows in Singapore from Mar 2 to Mar 9 - her only stop in Southeast Asia.
"While a vast majority of ticket listings are from genuine sellers, given the unique case of Taylor Swift’s Eras tour, Carousell has made the one-off exception to adopt this approach, and apologises for the inconvenience caused," said the e-commerce company.
Although the sale of concert tickets is not prohibited on the platform, Carousell's chief of staff Su Lin Tan said Swift's concert is "unique in that we expect many overseas concertgoers who may not know how to adequately protect themselves from local scam tactics".
"Additionally, we realise that the two weeks leading up to the Eras tour shows are prime for scammers taking advantage of last-minute panic buying of concert tickets," she added.
Carousell said it will use a mix of AI detection and manual moderation to detect and remove listings, adding that users are encouraged to help report any listings directly.
Carousell noted that it has made it mandatory since October 2023 for all Singapore sellers to verify their identities via Singpass before being able to list in its Tickets and Vouchers category.
The platform has also put up advisories in the category to educate users on how to transact safely.
Buyers are encouraged to do their own background checks on any deal, and encouraged to arrange for physical meet-ups to verify the authenticity of the tickets before making any payment.
More than 1,500 people have fallen prey to concert ticket scams over the past year, losing a total of at least S$1.1 million (US$820,000), the police said earlier this month.
Scammers would typically post ticket listings on platforms such as Telegram, Carousell, X, Facebook and Xiaohongshu, the police said, advising consumers to purchase tickets through authorised sellers instead of third-party resellers.
