StubHub scams: how fake ticket sellers and lookalike emails work
Quick answer
StubHub is a real ticket marketplace, but scammers pretend to be StubHub or sell tickets on social media in its name. The tells: payment by app or transfer, screenshots instead of transfers, and links in unsolicited messages. Buy on the real site and report fraud at reportcyberandfraud.canada.ca.
- Comes by
- Social media, Email, Text, Website
- Pretends to be
- StubHub
- Last updated
Reviewed by Anthon Wansland
Head of Product & Co-Founder
Serus is a privacy company with paid tools to find and remove your personal data. This page is free and based on official sources.
How it works
Scammers go where demand is high: a sold-out show, a presale that vanished in minutes. Two versions come up most.
The off-platform seller. Someone on social media, a group chat or a forum posts a ticket, often as a screenshot, and asks you to pay by a peer-to-peer app or transfer. StubHub's own guidance describes the usual outcome: the ticket never arrives, or it's a duplicate already sold to other buyers. Payment apps generally aren't built to reverse a transfer between two people, so the money is hard to get back.
The lookalike message. A text or email claims to be from a ticketing platform, mentions a presale code or a problem with your order, and asks you to click a link and log in. StubHub warns that scammers build web addresses that closely copy a real platform's, with a subtle typo or an extra word. The aim is your login, card details or a payment.
Some offers add bait such as "secret presale access" or a meet-and-greet with the artist. Canada's Competition Bureau lists prices far from normal, pressure to act fast, payment by cryptocurrency or gift cards, and tickets sent as screenshots as warning signs of online ticket fraud.
StubHub is the company being impersonated here. Buying through its own checkout is a different transaction from a stranger offering "StubHub tickets" in a message.
Sources checked: newsroom.stubhub.com, consumer.ftc.gov, competition-bureau.canada.ca
Last verified against the official page:
Red flags
- A seller who only takes payment by app, wire, gift card or cryptocurrency
- A screenshot of a ticket instead of a transfer through a ticketing platform
- An unsolicited email or text with a ticket or login link
- A web address that's almost the real one, with a typo or an extra word
- Prices far below what the same seats cost elsewhere
- "Secret presale" or meet-and-greet offers you can't find on the artist's or venue's own pages
- Pressure to pay now before the tickets are gone
Example message
Hi, I have 2 floor tickets for Saturday that I can't use. Face value, but I've had a lot of messages so I need payment today by [payment app] and I'll send the ticket after. Or follow the StubHub order link here to confirm: [link].
What to do
- 1
If you only received the message
Don't click the link or reply. If you think the message might be about a real order, open the StubHub site or app yourself by typing the address, and check your orders there. The FTC's advice for any unexpected message from a company you deal with is to contact them through a website you know is real, not through the message.
- 2
If you paid
Contact your bank or card company now, say it was fraud and ask what can be stopped or disputed. The FTC warns that payment apps, wire transfers, gift cards and cryptocurrency are the ways scammers ask to be paid, and they're the hardest to recover.
- 3
If you entered your StubHub login or card details on a link
Change the password on your StubHub account and on any other account that used it, turn on two-factor authentication, and tell your card issuer so it can watch for or replace the card.
- 4
Keep the evidence
Save the profile or number, the messages, any screenshots, receipts and payment details. You'll need them for your bank and for the report.
- 5
Report it
File a report with the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre. In the US, report at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. Reporting helps even when the money is gone.
- 6
Ignore "recovery" offers
The Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre says it never contacts people to ask for money, so anyone claiming to be staff and offering to recover your loss for a fee is another scammer.
Report it
Check if your details are exposed with Serus
Scammers find your number and address on data brokers and people-search sites. Serus removes them.
Why you got it
Scammers who message you about tickets often already have your phone number or email, and sometimes your name. That kind of detail is easy to find on people-search sites and in data breach dumps, which is why a lookalike ticketing email can feel personal. Serus finds the data brokers and people-search sites that list your details where you live and sends removal requests, and it alerts you when your email shows up in a breach, so fewer strangers have what they need to target you. Our guide on what to do after a data breach covers the steps if you've already been exposed.
Frequently asked
Is StubHub a scam?
No. StubHub is a real ticket marketplace. The scams are people pretending to be StubHub, or selling tickets elsewhere and using its name. StubHub says it guarantees tickets bought through its own checkout under its FanProtect Guarantee, and that it does not ask buyers to send money through a peer-to-peer app.
How can I tell a real ticket seller from a fake one?
Check who is selling and how you're asked to pay. Canada's Competition Bureau lists warning signs including prices far from normal, pressure to act fast, payment by cryptocurrency or gift cards, and tickets sent as screenshots.
What's the safest way to pay for tickets?
The FTC says never to pay someone who insists on cryptocurrency, a wire transfer, a payment app or a gift card. Those methods give you little chance of getting money back.
I got a text saying there's a problem with my StubHub order. What now?
Don't use the link. Open StubHub yourself by typing its address or using the app you already have, and check your orders there. If there's nothing, delete the message and report it.
Can I get my money back after paying a fake seller?
Call your bank or card issuer right away and ask what can be disputed or stopped. Recovery isn't guaranteed, and it's hardest with payment apps, wires, gift cards and cryptocurrency.
Sources
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