MEDIA RELEASE - The Government has failed to act on ticket scamming
Australians are continuing to be ripped off online through the website Viagogo.
There are new revelations today about Viagago, with tickets for a cancer fundraiser being sold at inflated prices on the website. The fundraiser is for guitarist Stuart Fraser, who is currently battling cancer and will feature performers John Farnham, Jimmy Barnes, Noiseworks and Diesel. Viagogo is ready to take advantage.
Tickets are being sold through the site for the inflated priced of up to $450 (RRP $160). This is a new low.
“Soon after the pre-sale Viagogo was selling two tickets for $900, then cutting the price to $630. Tickets for the concert go on sale to the general public tomorrow (June 9) at 2pm from Ticketek, priced at $109.90 or $149.90.” (Source: heraldsun.com.au June 8, 2017 12:26pm)
The problem is not getting better, it’s getting worse.
The major search engines continue to take Viagogo’s advertising money while the Government stands idly by.
But no matter how many Australians who are talking about this, there is one group of Australians who have refused to say a word. No Government Minister, no Government MP has even acknowledged that this is a problem.
For anyone who buys their fundraising tickets from Viagogo the money doesn’t go to the charitable cause, it goes to people who are ripping off concertgoers and there’s every chance that when you turn up, you won’t get in the door anyway.
Labor has introduced a Private Members motion to the House of Representatives to force Government MPs to take a position on this issue.
The policy responses to people being deceived online will always be complex. But at the moment we have a Government with its head in the sand pretending there is no problem.
THURSDAY, 8 JUNE 2017