Victims lose over $21,500 in USS Halloween ticket scam

Buying tickets online may be less pricey and more convenient, but beware of deals that appear too good to be true, the police have warned.

Between Aug 30 and Sept 29 this year, there have been at least 35 reports of online purchase scams where victims bought tickets to USS Halloween Horror Nights 7.

They ended up losing over $21,500 to perpetrators instead.

In a media release last Saturday (Oct 7), the police said that the victims paid between $45 and $7,000 for the tickets. A regular general admission ticket to the attraction costs $68.

In some cases, the scammers failed to deliver the tickets and became uncontactable after receiving payment from the victims, while others gave their victims fake tickets which caused them to be denied entry to the attraction.

With nearly 250 reports of online purchase scam cases in August, there was a 50 per cent increase from July, the police noted. Most of these cases were advertised on platforms such as Carousell and Facebook.

When buying tickets online, members of the public are advised to:

- Purchase tickets only from authorised sellers, and take note of the terms

- Use shopping platforms that provide arrangements to only release your payment to the seller upon receiving the item;

- Arrange for a physical meet-up with the seller to verify the authenticity of the tickets before making payment

If you need advice on scam-related issues, call the anti-scam helpline at 1800-722-6688 or visit www.scamalert.sg.

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