IPL and concert ticket scams: how to avoid fake resale tickets

Why ticket scams peak with big matches and tours

When official tickets sell out in minutes, people go looking elsewhere, and that is where the fakes are. Expect them every IPL season, roughly March to May, and whenever a big international tour or a star like Diljit Dosanjh announces Indian dates.

In October 2024 the Enforcement Directorate searched locations in five states over the ticket sales for the Coldplay and Diljit Dosanjh concerts. It said it had found people selling tickets, including fake ones, through Instagram, WhatsApp and Telegram, and that it was acting on police FIRs across the country, one of them filed by BookMyShow.

How fake tickets are sold

• Online, by a stranger with “2 passes, can't go”: you pay by UPI, then get a PDF or screenshot that does not scan, or nothing at all.
• Outside the venue, as printed tickets. In May 2026 Uttar Pradesh Police arrested four men accused of making fake IPL tickets from photos of real ones posted on social media, and selling them outside Lucknow's Ekana stadium. A buyer who paid by UPI was turned away when the barcode did not match.
• By people claiming to be from the cricket association. In May 2026 Delhi Police arrested three men accused of posing as representatives of the Delhi and District Cricket Association and selling tickets, including complimentary passes marked “not for sale”, at inflated prices.

Where to buy safely

Check the team's or the organiser's own website or official social account for the name of the ticketing partner, and buy there. For Diljit Dosanjh's 2024 Delhi show, the organisers named one authorised seller and told fans to buy only from it; a fan who bought a ticket from someone outside the venue was turned away by security.

When BookMyShow sold the Coldplay India tickets in 2024, it said it had no link to ticket resale platforms and warned that tickets bought from unauthorised sources were at the buyer's risk and could be fake. If the official platform has its own way to transfer or resell a ticket, use that instead of a stranger's PDF.

If it already happened

1. Report it on 1930 or cybercrime.gov.in as soon as you can, with the UPI ID, transaction reference, amount and time.
2. Call your bank on the number in its app and tell it the payment was a fraud.
3. Screenshot the seller's profile, the chat and the ticket you were sent before they delete them.
4. Report the account to the platform where you found it.
5. If you were sold the ticket outside the venue, tell the police or security at the stadium straight away.

• Call 1930The national cyber fraud helpline. Call within hours if money left your account.
• cybercrime.gov.inFile a complaint online and keep the acknowledgement number.
• Chakshu on Sanchar SaathiReport a fraud call, SMS or WhatsApp number.

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