Police warn summer festival-goers to be on the lookout for scammers

Rhythm & Vines Festival is one of the most popular music events of the Kiwi summer. Photo / Supplied

Police are warning summer festival lovers to beware of ticket scammers and to never buy tickets from anyone they are unsure about.

Sergeant Phill Hamlin said summer was always a high point for music lovers, "with festivals, big-ticket stadium gigs and outdoor concerts galore".

"Sadly, there are people out there who seek to use these events as an opportunity to make a quick buck by scamming people looking for tickets," he said.

He said police were currently investigating multiple reports of one scam, where tickets are offered for sale on Facebook.

The buyer pays into an online account, but the tickets are not sent – and the Facebook profile of the seller is deleted.

But Hamlin said there were many others scams, including the selling of fake tickets or sending people tickets different to what they thought they were buying.

He advised summer festival goers to check out the Netsafe website, which has "excellent advice on how to avoid falling victim to these types of scams".

These included never buying tickets from anyone you are unsure about, never paying money into an account without verifying who it belongs too, and remembering that if an offer seems too good to be true, it probably is.