There is a growing concern that automated bots are buying large numbers of Oasis concert tickets, leaving many fans empty-handed and frustrated. IT experts have highlighted a “huge possibility” that bots are being used to secure tickets, particularly as fans reported website outages while attempting to book tickets over the weekend.
Automated software, often employed by ticket resellers, is known to purchase tickets in bulk, only for them to be resold at inflated prices. Many Oasis fans encountered difficulties on Saturday when trying to purchase tickets, with some experiencing crashes on the Ticketmaster website.
Jake Moore, a global cybersecurity adviser at software security firm Eset, believes that bots could be behind this disruption. He explained that some groups possess the technical expertise and tools necessary to manipulate ticketing platforms and use bots to “swoop in” and buy large quantities of tickets at once.
“Bots can mimic the actions of real users and even disguise their location using common software like VPNs,” Moore told the PA news agency. He suggested that, similar to recent high-demand events like Taylor Swift concerts, bots may have been heavily involved in securing Oasis tickets.
Fans Affected by Website Crashes and Bot Detection
Many fans took to social media to express their frustration, with several reporting that they had been temporarily suspended from Ticketmaster after being flagged as bots. Moore noted that while bot detection software is often used to combat this issue, it can sometimes mistakenly target genuine users, leading to an increased number of complaints.
“This bot detection software can produce false positives, meaning real users are sometimes assumed to be bots and blocked from the platform,” he added.
Growing Ticket Resale Problem
Adam Leon Smith, an industry expert from the BCS (Chartered Institute for IT), highlighted that the popularity of the Oasis reunion was likely to cause website glitches. He explained that using bots to secure tickets has become one of the most common ways to profit from ticket resales in 2024.
“The use of automated tools is widespread, and it’s often a challenge to stop them. There’s an ongoing battle between those trying to prevent bot activity and the people using them, with AI playing a bigger role in escalating this arms race,” Leon Smith explained.
Calls for Greater Transparency in Ticket Reselling
Adam Webb from FanFair Alliance, a campaign group tackling ticket touting, argued that it remains difficult to determine just how many tickets are being bought by bots or resellers due to a “lack of transparency” on resale platforms.
He pointed out that many tickets listed for sale on these platforms may not have even been purchased yet, contributing to the confusion and frustration among fans.
Although ticket reselling is legal in the UK, the practice is tightly regulated in some other countries. For instance, there were no listings for the Ireland shows on ticket resale site Viagogo, as Ireland has stricter laws against reselling tickets for more than their face value.
Cris Miller, global managing director of Viagogo, reassured fans by stating that the resale of tickets is entirely legal in the UK, and customers are protected by guarantees ensuring they either receive their tickets in time for the event or get their money back.
Meanwhile, Ticketmaster denied claims that its website had crashed, though many fans remain sceptical after the issues they faced.
