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Stolen tickets for Elton John & Billy Joel concert sold on StubHub, other resale sites
For some 200 fans trying to get into Elton John and Billy Joel's July 16 concert at Wrigley Field in Chicago, their dream tickets turned out to be a nightmare. Ticketholders were turned away at the stadium doors when it turned out that their otherwise legitimate-looking tickets were actually stolen goods.
As reported by Chicago's CBS 2 news team, the 200 tickets were originally part of a transaction between the Chicago Cubs, based out of Wrigley Field, and the concert's promoter Live Nation. The tickets were never offered for sale on the primary market.
Stolen tickets are often reported to brokers to prevent their resale on the secondary market. However, that report allegedly was never filed, and the concert's primary seller Tickets.com told CBS that it didn't know about the situation.
Without the heads up about the stolen ducats, brokers searching online for deals were unaware that the passes they purchased -- likely from Craigslist or eBay, according to some reports -- were void. Those brokers then unknowingly resold the voided tickets on various secondary ticketing sites, including StubHub.
While the Cubs, Live Nation and Tickets.com did not reply to requests for comment, StubHub's head of corporate communications Sean Pate told TicketNews that the company only discovered the fraudulent activity when doors opened for last Thursday's event.
"We had no idea there was any issue with the tickets...literally until the day of the show when customers called [to report the problem]," he explained.
Twelve orders placed on StubHub were caught up in the fraud, but those orders did not account for the entire block of affected tickets. For those fans who did make their purchases through StubHub, replacement tickets for the July 16 show were offered, though some customers requested refunds instead.
Pate noted, "By all accounts, we got everyone into that show as long as they wanted to attend."
Pate explained that instances like this are rare and that StubHub's sellers don't receive payment until a purchase has been validated. "There are protections in place on sites like StubHub for this exact reason," Pate said.
Even when problem orders are processed and void tickets end up in the hands of customers, Pate said, "You can always feel assured that you will get tickets to the event that you paid for."

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What a crock that payment isnt made until the tickets are validated. I'm sure all of those people who sold to StubHub received their payment as soon as tickets were received. If they were not brokers, those people are gone in the wind.
i remmeber when there was a block of stolen barbra steisand tickets at msg a few years ago . ticketmaster put the seat locations on their website in a prominent location
Since when do legitimate box offices need to report stolen tickets to brokers? That has never happened, and never will. (unless the parties are in bed together)
I agree with Brad. To claim that this is "protocol" is just flat out false.
The NFL works closely with the secondary market. It is done to help catch the people that are stealing tickets and creating counterfeit tickets. Primarily to protect the fans from a bad experience.
Every superbowl week we get emails daily with lots of stolen/missing tickets from the NFL
that is because of an agreement wit the NATB. being a member there is well worth it!
I remember the Streisand thing, of which the other poster speaks , people counterfeit things that can be counterfeited its as old as the hills.