Safe Use of The Rave Exchange
Before buying or selling on our Rave Exchange, please read the points below and familiarise yourself with the warning signs that might point towards potential scammers. The vast majority of users on The Rave Exchange are good and honest people, but as with any large population where money and valuables are traded, there are some less than honest people out there that exploit the good nature of vibe of our community. We take these matters very seriously and work hard to ensure that our zone is a safe one, but we can only do so much. It is down to the each and every user to exercise due diligence.
Spotting A Scammer/Fake Profile
If you find a buyer/seller for a ticket, don’t allow yourself to be rushed into quick transactions regardless of the demands of others. We have put together a comprehensive list of steps that you can take to ensure that your experience and transaction is as safe as possible.
Checklist
- Does your buyer/seller have a realistic looking profile? You can check things such as how many years ago did they upload their first profile photo to Facebook and how many friends do they have. If a profile was made in the last year or two, that is reason to be suspicious as (pretty much) everyone has been on Facebook for a number of years now. If a profile has a small number of friends, again, be cautious. Add your buyer/seller as a friend to get full access to their profile. Do they appear to be active on their timeline? Do they have friends commenting on their posts and photos? These are easy things to look into.
- If your contact has given you a phone number, run a Google search on the number as prolific scammers will post the same number on multiple threads, forums and social media groups. If the number shows results linking to many ticket sale sites and conversations, that’s a warning trigger to be cautious.
- If your buyer seems off in any way, take extra steps to confirm they’re honest. One approach would be to setup a quick FaceTime call with your buyer/seller to make sure that they match up to the person they’re representing in their profile. An honest buyer/seller will have no problem doing this as it will give them confidence in you also.
- If a call is not an option, ask them for a selfie with the ticket and proof of date or with your name or social media in the photo. A person using a fake profile would not be able to deliver this.
- Proof of purchase is a fair request if you want to be safe
Making Payments
- We highly recommend that users stick to Paypal for transactions using the Goods & Services options to cover your transaction with Paypal’s Buyer and Seller Protection schemes. Nearly all other apps such as VENMO or Google Pay do not offer this kind of protection
Further Reading & Research
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/07/31/what-to-consider-before-buying-a-concert-ticket-from-a-stranger.html
https://celebmix.com/not-get-scammed-buying-tickets
https://www.nextadvisor.com/blog/how-to-avoid-ticket-scams
