Mumbai: College youth duped with fake Coldplay tickets

While the Mumbai policersquos Economic Offences Wing EOW is investigating allegations of ticket scalping related to the British band Coldplayrsquos concert the city police are now receiving complaints about fake tickets being sold by cyber scammers These scammers are reportedly listing their contact numbers on Google and the dark web One such complaint was lodged at Chunabhatti police station by an 18yearold college student who claimed to have booked 24 tickets worth Rs 217500 However the email confirmation he received purportedly from BookMyShow turned out to be fakeAccording to the FIR registered with the Chunabhatti Police a case has been filed under Sections 66c and 66d of the IT Act The complainant identified as Virendra Jain a resident of Chunabhatti lodged the complaint on October 3In his statement Jain said that on September 24 while searching for tickets to the Coldplay concert scheduled for January 2025 he found a contact number on Google claiming to sell tickets He proceeded to book the tickets and made a payment of Rs 7000 via UPIldquoI was excited about the concert and after finding this contact on Google I made the payment My friends who were also looking for tickets asked about it so I shared the number with them to book theirs as well Altogether we purchased 24 tickets paying a total of R217500rdquo Jain told middayThe FIR further mentions that the passes Jain received via email came from the address confirmationbookmyshowco ldquoOne of my relatives noticed the email ID and pointed out that it seemed suspicious Thatrsquos when we realised the passes might be fake and approached the police to file the FIRrdquo Jain saidAccording to Jain the scammer during a WhatsApp call claimed that the available passes ranged from R7000 to R15000 Trusting the information Jain proceeded to book the tickets Meanwhile the EOW which is conducting a preliminary inquiry PE based on the complaint filed by advocate Amit Vyas has received some data from BookMyShow including server information used for booking the ticketsldquoWe have asked specific questions to BookMyShow including details about the computers and servers involved in selling the tickets as well as information on the payment transactions they received from individuals who purchased them Some details have been provided and our team is currently examining them to determine if there is any connection between the tickets sold by BookMyShow and those available on other platforms at different pricesrdquo an EOW officer saidIn addition to the Economic Offences Wing EOW the Vile Parle Police have filed a case against an unknown individual for selling tickets on the black market The FIR does not name anyone specifically but BookMyShow has identified 30 individuals including Viagogo claiming they were involved in the illegal sale of tickets Sources within the EOW expressed surprise at the FIR as they were already investigating BookMyShow which is now listed as the complainant in the caseAdvocate Vyas raised serious concerns regarding the FIR filed by the Vile Parle Police He said ldquoI suspect this is an attempt by BookMyShow to shift the focus onto minor black marketers thus diverting attention from its own involvement I am also puzzled by the urgency with which the Vile Parle Police registered an FIR on a matter already under investigation by the EOW particularly given that it appears to be an economic offence exceeding R10 crore This raises questions about administrative propriety and I hope higher authorities take note of itrdquo24No of tickets purchased by the studentlsquoAssessing cancellation of tickets being sold unethicallyrsquoOnline ticket aggregator BookMyShow said on Friday that it is assessing the potential cancellation of tickets that are being sold ldquounethicallyrdquoldquoWe remain vigilant in monitoring such instances of ticket reselling for this tour through black market channels and will continue to share all relevant information with the authorities to ensure appropriate action is taken BookMyShow is assessing potential cancellation of such tickets that are being sold unethicallyrdquo said the official spokesperson of BookMyShow ldquoOur stance remains clear and unchanged BookMyShow vehemently condemns and opposes ticket reselling which is deemed illegal and is punishable by law in Indiardquo the spokesperson added ldquoWe have provided details to the police of all resellers that have come to our attention including independent individuals reselling tickets for this tour across social media platforms such as Instagram WhatsApp and beyond as well as digital platforms such as Viagogo Stubhub Holdings and more to aid authorities in a thorough investigationrdquo