Hackers access Pittsburgh music fan’s Ticketmaster account, steal tickets worth nearly $1,000

PITTSBURGH — UPDATE (9/28/24)

Ticketmaster reached out to Channel 11 on Saturday after Hailee McCorkle shared the story of how a hacker or hackers took her Post Malone tickets.

They said her tickets had been returned to her.

Ticketmaster emphasized the problem originates with “fans’ email and poor password hygiene,” which gives hackers the advantage.

A spokesperson for Ticketmaster issued the following statement:

“Overall, our digital ticketing innovations have greatly reduced fraud compared to the days of paper tickets and duplicated PDFs. Having that digital history is also how we are able to investigate and successfully return tickets like we did for Ms. McCorkle. The top way fans can protect themselves is setting a strong unique password for all accounts – especially for their personal email which is where we often see security issues originate. Scammers are looking for new cheats across every industry, and tickets will always be a target because they are valuable, so Ticketmaster is constantly investing in new security enhancements to safeguard fans.”

ORIGINAL COVERAGE (9/27/24)

A local woman says hackers stole her concert tickets right out of her Ticketmaster account.

She told Channel 11 during an interview she is now unable to see one of her favorite artists and she is now out nearly $1000.

Hailee McCorkle is a huge Post Malone fan.

She just graduated from the University of Pittsburgh with her Master’s degree and was looking forward to seeing his concert in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio next week.

But this past Tuesday, she got a strange email from Ticketmaster saying her tickets were in the process of being transferred. 2 tickets, worth $900, were transferred to someone else.

“I went to my Apple wallet, the ticket I had in there had turned white and the bottom said ‘invalid’ and I no longer had access to the ticket,” McCorkle said.

It is part of a scam happening around the country. Hackers are getting into people’s Ticketmaster accounts and transferring the tickets to themselves.

When Channel 11 spoke to Hailee via Zoom.. she said - it gets even worse: The scam artist sent her an email saying, “If you send money I can give it back.”

She said she was not going to fall for another scam. She reached out to Ticketmaster right away, over and over again, but she did not get anywhere.

“I do not have the money. I do not have the tickets. I have not been promised anything. Ticketmaster just says they will investigate,” McCorkle said.

If the situation was not bad enough, one of her friends spotted her tickets, which were in the same row, in the same seats, at the same concert, being sold on another ticket site.

“Someone let me know they were listed on StubHub. I immediately called StubHub, the story, the proof and they told me that they were not able to flag it. They were not able to. Out of their control,” McCorkle said.

McCorkle said she has changed all of her passwords but she says Ticketmaster needs to fix this and make it right.

“I feel really defeated. That’s been the biggest thing - just realizing it’s me, an individual, against StubHub and Ticketmaster,” McCorkle said.

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