As Taylor Swift’s eagerly anticipated concert arrives in Singapore next weekend, Carousell is suspending all sales of her concert tickets.
This will take effect from 23 Feb to 9 Mar — the date of her final concert here.
Source: Taylor Swift on Instagram
The move is a bid to foil scammers, it said.
In a statement sent to MS News on Friday (23 Feb), Carousell said they would “swiftly suspend the sale of Taylor Swift concert tickets” across all six of its markets.
The online marketplace operates in Singapore, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Taiwan.
Besides suspending ticket sales from 23 Feb to 9 Mar, it will also remove existing listings of Taylor Swift tickets from its platform by 26 Feb.
It will make use of artificial intelligence (AI) as well as manual moderation to detect and remove listings.
Resellers started selling tickets on Carousell minutes after general sales started on 7 July 2023, with listings asking for up to S$28,888 for a pair of VIP seats.
Source: Carousell
Carousell noted that ticket scams were on the rise in the lead-up to many of Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour shows across the world.
As Singapore is her only stop in Southeast Asia, it expects to attract many overseas concertgoers “who may not know how to adequately protect themselves from local scam tactics”.
Additionally, the two weeks leading up to the six shows are “prime for scammers” who aim to take advantage of last-minute panic buying of tickets, Carousell chief of staff Su Lin Tan said.
Thus, Carousell decided to suspend sales in order to “manage the situation”.
The company is also monitoring the situation and taking action against scammers, working closely with the Singapore Police Force (SPF) to that end.
Carousell acknowledged that “a vast majority of ticket listings” are from genuine sellers.
Selling concert tickets is also not prohibited on the platform as it’s an open and inclusive marketplace.
However, Taylor Swift’s concert tour is a “unique case” due to the interest from overseas concertgoers, the statement said.
Source: Taylor Swift on Instagram
As such, Carousell’s suspending of Taylor Swift ticket sales is “one-off exception”, it added.
The platform apologised to users for the inconvenience caused.
To reduce the likelihood of being scammed, Carousell advised buyers to do background checks on any deal.
They’re also encouraged to arrange for physical meet-ups so they can verify whether the tickets they’re buying are authentic before making payment.
Genuine sellers are strongly urged to follow the terms and conditions by official channels that may be found on the tickets or organiser’s website.
Also read: M’sian Engineer Gets Scammed While Buying Taylor Swift Tickets On Carousell, Loses S$3,300
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Featured image adapted from Taylor Swift on Instagram and Carousell.
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