Shopping & Ticket Scams UK: Fake Sellers and Refunds

Purchase fraud is the volume end of UK scams. UK Finance's Annual Fraud Report 2026 recorded that purchase scams made up 71% of authorised push payment scam cases reported by its member banks in 2025, with £118.1 million lost, up 20% on the year — that is a share of one bank-reported dataset, not of all UK fraud, all reports or all crime. Separately, Crime Survey for England and Wales data for the year ending March 2025 found that, among fraud incidents involving an initial financial loss, victims were fully reimbursed in 85% of bank and credit account fraud incidents and 48% of consumer and retail fraud incidents. Those figures are published by the Office for National Statistics and cover England and Wales only. They are also two different survey categories with their own populations and definitions, so read them as separate measures rather than a ranking. What both point at is worth knowing before you pay: how you pay changes what you can do afterwards. Our UK scam statistics give the publisher, period and geography behind each figure.

Unsure about a seller, a listing or a 'payment failed' email? Paste it into our free AI scam checker for an automated second opinion. It is an automated second opinion, not a verdict, and it does not replace checking a firm or a seller for yourself.

Three different problems get called a 'shopping scam'

They need different responses, so separate them before you act.

• The seller does not exist. The listing is bait, the payment is a bank transfer, and there was never any stock. This is outright fraud and the money is the priority.
• The platform is real but the outcome is bad. A ticket turns out to be invalid, a refund is refused, or the total you end up paying is not the price you thought you were paying. Our guide to whether Viagogo is safe to buy tickets from is the clearest example of this middle ground. Viagogo is a real secondary ticket marketplace. As of 23 June 2026, the CMA is investigating whether mandatory fees are clearly included in the total price presented at the start of the purchase process; it has not yet made a finding. Start from Viagogo's official app or type viagogo.com or viagogo.co.uk yourself. Follow only an official redirect, and remember that a genuine domain does not guarantee a particular listing or ticket. Separately, treat an off-platform bank-transfer request from anyone claiming to be a Viagogo seller as an impersonation or fraud warning; do not pay and report it to the platform.
• It is phishing wearing a shopping costume. Nothing is for sale; the message exists to harvest a login or card details, like the fake renewal notices in our guide to spotting a fake Amazon Prime email. Retailers do send genuine billing emails, which is exactly why the check is to open the app or type the address yourself and look in your own account.

Tickets: where the fraud actually happens

Live events concentrate every ingredient a fraudster wants — a fixed date, limited supply, and a buyer who has already decided to go.

• A festival ticket offered on social media, bank transfer only. Read how to buy a festival ticket safely. A screenshot or PDF of an e-ticket can be copied and sent to several buyers, and a barcode can be reissued or invalidated, so none of it is sufficient evidence that the seller holds a ticket they can transfer to you. Buy through the event's own outlet, or through a reseller you can look up on STAR's member list — membership is one useful input, not a guarantee about a particular ticket.
• Glastonbury specifically, where the registration-led system makes private resale unusually risky — see spotting a fake Glastonbury seller.
• A sold-out gig on Facebook Marketplace or Instagram: our guide to concert ticket scams covers which resale routes verify that the seller actually holds the ticket.
• British Grand Prix or another motorsport event: see spotting a fake Silverstone seller, including why being sent an image of a ticket is not the same as having one transferred to you.
• A resale seller offering a better price off-platform. That discount is the point of the approach — our StubHub guide explains why leaving the platform leaves its protections behind.

How you pay decides what you can do next

• Credit card. Section 75 may apply to a qualifying credit purchase where the cash price of the item or qualifying set is more than £100 and no more than £30,000, provided the required relationship between the credit and the supplier exists. Where it applies, the lender can be jointly liable with the retailer.
• Debit card, or a credit purchase outside the Section 75 thresholds. Ask your bank about chargeback — a card-scheme process rather than a statutory right, with its own time limits and evidence requirements, so raise it quickly.
• Third-party Buy Now Pay Later. Qualifying deferred-payment-credit agreements from third-party lenders entered into on or after 15 July 2026 are FCA-regulated, subject to statutory exclusions including certain insurance-premium finance, employee borrowing and social-landlord arrangements. Lenders must be authorised or hold temporary permission, and customers gain complaint and Financial Ombudsman protections. Agreements entered before that date and credit offered directly by a retailer are not brought into this new regime.
• Bank transfer. The method fraudsters ask for, because you authorised it. Mandatory reimbursement can apply to eligible domestic consumer Faster Payments and CHAPS payments made since 7 October 2024, subject to an £85,000 cap, a possible excess of up to £100 that cannot be applied to a consumer the firm assesses as vulnerable, and a 13-month limit from the last relevant payment. Exclusions apply, so it is not a guaranteed refund.
• 'Friends and family' transfers, gift cards and vouchers. These normally carry no platform purchase protection and no card-style chargeback right. Other statutory or bank remedies can still depend on the facts, so it is worth reporting it and asking. If a seller insists on one of these, do not pay, keep the evidence and report the account.

Checks that take less than a minute

• Type the address yourself and read it character by character — lookalike domains with an extra word, a hyphen or a swapped letter are the standard trick.
• Keep the whole purchase on the platform you started on, payment and messages included.
• Check the total, not the headline price: fees and delivery charges change the answer.
• Do not rely on evidence that is easy to copy. A screenshot, PDF or barcode can be duplicated, reissued or invalidated, and ticket systems vary, so none of them establishes who holds a valid ticket now.
• Look at the account, not just the listing. Recent creation, no history and a rush to move you to a bank transfer are a pattern, not a coincidence.

If you have already paid

• Contact your bank or card provider immediately and say it was a scam. Ask specifically about Section 75, chargeback or reimbursement depending on how you paid, since time limits apply to each.
• Stop all contact with the seller and send nothing further, whatever you are told about the first payment having failed.
• Keep the evidence — the listing, the profile, the messages, the payment confirmation and any 'ticket' you were sent. Screenshot it before the account disappears.
• Report the listing to the platform as well as the police: platforms can remove an account that is still taking payments from other people.
• Work through our scam recovery checklist for the payment, account and identity steps, and be wary of anyone who then offers to recover your money for a fee.

How to report a shopping or ticket scam in the UK

Tell your bank or card provider first, then report the seller or listing to the platform it appeared on. Report the fraud to Report Fraud (formerly Action Fraud) at reportfraud.police.uk or 0300 123 2040 in England, Wales or Northern Ireland, or to Police Scotland on 101 in Scotland. Forward a scam text message to 7726 free of charge, and a scam email to report@phishing.gov.uk. A problem with a real trader rather than a fraudster — faulty goods, a refused refund, misleading pricing — is a consumer-rights question rather than a fraud report. For consumer-rights help, use the service for your nation: Citizens Advice in England and Wales on 0808 223 1133, Advice Direct Scotland in Scotland on 0808 800 9060, or Consumerline in Northern Ireland on 0300 123 6262. Each of those services is also the route into Trading Standards.

All shopping scams guides

Common questions

Sources checked

• FCA — Regulating Buy Now Pay Later (deferred payment credit from 15 July 2026)
• FCA — New protections confirmed for Buy Now Pay Later borrowers (Financial Ombudsman access)
• CMA — viagogo consumer protection enforcement case (viagogo.com and viagogo.co.uk; no finding made)
• ONS — Nature of fraud and computer misuse in England and Wales, year ending March 2025 (CSEW reimbursement rates)
• UK Finance — Annual Fraud Report 2026 (purchase scams 71% of APP cases, £118.1m)
• Consumer Credit Act 1974, section 75 — legislation.gov.uk
• Payment Systems Regulator — APP fraud reimbursement protections
• GOV.UK — Consumer advice: helplines for England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland
• STAR — Society of Ticket Agents and Retailers (member list)
• Ofcom — What to do about a scam call, text or message (forward texts to 7726 free of charge)
• NCSC — Report a scam email (report@phishing.gov.uk)

Last reviewed 2026-07-30. Reporting routes are checked against our verified canon of official UK sources. Read about how Beat the Scam writes guides.

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