Cricket and Event Ticket Resale Scam through a QR code

How it looks through a QR code, the red flags and what to do.

A QR code hides the link inside a picture, so you cannot read where it goes before you scan. Scammers stick fake codes over real ones or send them by chat. Cricket and Event Ticket Resale Scam is one of the ways this shows up: Tickets for a sold-out match or concert offered on social media may be fake or sold many times. See how to avoid losing money at the gate.

What cricket and event ticket resale scam looks like through a QR code

• A code that downloads an app.
• A sticker pasted over a shop or parking QR code.
• A QR code sent on WhatsApp "to receive money".

The scammer copies a genuine ticket photo from a post or buys one and sells it repeatedly. He posts at a price a little below or above face value and names a gate and a block to look real. Replies come in from fake accounts that say 'got mine from him, perfect', so that the page looks trusted.

Red flags to check on the QR code

• Tickets offered for a sold-out event from an unknown account.
• Advance demanded before you see the ticket in your own account.
• Only a screenshot is shown, never a live view in the ticketing app.
• A 'name change' or 'unlock' fee asked in a separate payment.
• The link opens an app download instead of a payment page.
• The amount is filled in and you did not expect to pay.

What to do

1. Buy only from the official ticketing app or website typed by hand.
2. If you buy resale, use the platform's official transfer option so that the ticket shows in your account.
3. Do not pay in advance to a personal UPI ID.
4. Before paying, read the payee name and the amount on the payment screen.
5. Check where a code goes with a QR checker before you open the link (Safeavio Sentinel can do this).
6. Press on a shop code to see if it is a sticker; ask the shop to read out the name you should see.

If you lost money through a QR code, call 1930 and report at cybercrime.gov.in; tell the bank the transaction details.

If money or a code is already gone

1. Call 1930 and report at cybercrime.gov.in with the profile, chat and payment ids.
2. Contact your bank on the number printed on your card and ask about holding the transfer.
3. Tell the organiser or the ticketing platform that the QR may be duplicated.
4. File a complaint at the police station, especially if you shared card details.

National Cyber Crime Helpline: 1930; report at cybercrime.gov.in.

Safeavio's QR check can show where a QR code on a ticket-style image leads, and the link check can warn about payment or 'unlock' links that copy a known site. The scam check reads the seller's chat for advance demands and the pressure line. It cannot verify whether a ticket is genuine or has already been scanned, so only the official ticketing app can prove that.

Full guide: Cricket and Event Ticket Resale Scam: how it works, signs and what to do. Other channels: social media, WhatsApp, phone call.

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