Sisters say tickets to Taylor Swift’s Toronto concert were stolen from online account

It was a swift kick in the ass for one die-hard Taylor Swift fan after her coveted tickets to one of the pop sensation’s sold-out Toronto shows were stolen from her online Ticketmaster account.

Alicia Gilby told CityNews that her sister Gillian was one of the lucky Swifties who managed to secure a second row spot at one of six upcoming shows at the Rogers Center.

With the November concert date fast approaching, they should have been giddy with excitement. Instead, Gillian called her sister in tears and gave her heartbreaking news.

“My sister probably called me around 11 p.m. at night and said, ‘You’re going to start crying.’ You’re going to be so upset, but my tickets were stolen.’ I was just shocked, and she was shocked.”

The sisters still aren’t entirely sure what happened, but a few weeks ago something seemed wrong when Gillian received an email from Ticketmaster saying her tickets for the show had been transferred to someone, whom she didn’t know.

“I was really upset,” Gillian said. “I cried a little. I felt guilty.”

She immediately contacted Ticketmaster.

“They had told us that they would refer this to what they called the fraud department and then we would get a response from the fraud department in about three to five business days.”

It’s been almost three weeks and there is still no solution.

They’re not the only Swifties reporting tickets disappearing into the online ether.

Several fans in the US also claim that their tickets were stolen directly from their accounts.

Cybersecurity expert Ritesh Kotak says these frustrating situations are why it’s important for fans to monitor their accounts and use all available security tools.

He adds that in such cases it may take a while to find a solution. First, Ticketmaster must check who had access to the account.

“Every time you log in there is an IP address, so there is a physical address and a virtual address,” he explained. “It’s a long, arduous investigation… And we have to think about it from another angle too – those tickets that are stolen can be resold to someone else who thinks they’re buying them from a legitimate person and spending thousands to do so. “of dollars.”

In addition to monitoring your accounts, Kotak recommends changing passwords frequently, not reusing old passwords, and always enabling multi-factor authentication.

CityNews contacted Ticketmaster regarding the sisters’ situation. A representative said the case was being investigated but provided no further information.