All footy fans need to be aware of potential ticket reselling and scams in the midst of finals fever.

The scams cross all football codes. A US tourist couple was refused admission to the last  AFL final in Perth after paying $350 online for tickets worth $118.

Australian Consumer group CHOICE also released a report way in August 2017 indicating two-thirds of all consumers who searched for ticket sales online were unable to tell if they were purchasing from a legitimate distributor or unreliable and untrustworthy third party outlet.

Also in March 2017 CHOICE named Viagogo and referred its complaint about ticket reselling to the ACCC. In August 2017, the ACCC instituted proceedings in the Federal Court against Viagogo and says the case is expected to be heard later this year. https://www.accc.gov.au/media-release/accc-takes-ticket-reseller-viagogo-to-court

Viagogo was named by Labor in a media release calling for action against ticket scams on January 29.

This Government, and its sixth minister responsible for consumer affairs in five years, has well and truly dropped the ball.  Leadership chaos directly resulted in a key meeting of NZ and Australian consumer affairs ministers – who was to discuss ticket reselling and scams - being deferred from 31 August until late October.

Current minister Stuart Robert must move immediately to respond to recommendations from the most recent Australian Consumer Law review to address ticket reselling and rip-offs.

The Government’s own inquiry in November 2017 reaffirmed CHOICE’s findings of shady practices by resellers claiming to be authorised sellers, as well as evidence of ticket-buying bot software employed by ticket scalpers to infiltrate ticket selling systems and artificially inflate prices.

In turn, Treasury outlined the enormous value the live sporting industry contributes to our economy, with 17.3 million tickets sold to live sporting events in Australia in 2016.