IT experts say ‘huge possibility’ of Oasis tickets being bought by bots

IT experts say there is a “huge possibility” that high numbers of Oasis tickets are being purchased by computer bots at once.

Ticket re-sellers often use automated software to buy more tickets for events than they are allowed, only to sell them on at higher prices.

Oasis fans also reported being hit with website outage issues while trying to book shows on Saturday.

Jake Moore, global cybersecurity adviser at software security firm Eset said some groups have the right software and knowledge to manipulate ticket websites, and even use bots to “swoop in and purchase high numbers of tickets at once”.

He told the PA news agency: “Being the next series of concerts since the demand for Taylor Swift tickets, I would suggest there would be a huge possibility of bots being used to swoop in.”

Many people used social media to say that they had been suspended from the Ticketmaster website as they were assumed to be a bot.

Moore said: “Bots mimic the activity of real users and even manipulate their location using off-the-shelf software such as a VPN.

“This is usually counteracted using bot detection software but this can often produce false positives when real users are assumed to be bots themselves.”

Industry expert Adam Leon Smith of BCS, the Chartered Institute for IT, said the inevitable popularity of the Oasis reunion was “bound” to lead to website glitches.

Leon Smith said using automated tools or bots is the “most common way” of making money from tickets in 2024.

Asked how websites can combat this, he said: “There are techniques for detecting and stopping bots, but there are also techniques for evading detection.

“Like many areas of cybersecurity there is a constant arms race between attackers and defenders, an arms race where AI has upped the ante.”

Adam Webb, of campaign group FanFair Alliance, said it is “really hard” to know how many tickets are being purchased by touts because there is a “lack of transparency” on reselling websites.

He went on: “There’ll be an awful lot of listings.

“I suspect that people won’t have actually bought the tickets and they’re listing them for sale.”

Webb also said that on ticket reseller Viagogo, there were no listings for the Ireland shows, where the practice of reselling tickets above face value is banned.

Cris Miller, Viagogo global managing director, said in a statement: “Resale is legal in the UK and fans are always protected by our guarantee that they will receive their tickets in time for the event or their money back.”

Ticketmaster said its website has not crashed.

A spokeswoman for Ticketmaster said: “The queue is moving along as fans buy tickets. As anticipated, millions of fans are accessing our site so have been placed in a queue.

“Fans are advised to hold their place in line, make sure they’re only using one tab, clear cookies, and ensure they aren’t using any VPN software on their device.”

Ted Hennessey, PA