BOT'S THE STORY

Campaigner warns of fakes and says gig goers won't get in with briefs illegally bought on internet

- MARK MCGIVERN

OASIS fans have been warned to brace themselves for an onslaught of ticket scams.

The Gallagher brothers sparked a frenzy by announcing their reunion tour, with tickets going on sale on Saturday morning.

Many thousands of tickets are set to be illegally offered by touts using "secondary" sites such as Viagogo and StubHub to sell them on for huge profit.

The UK's top ticket fraud investigator Reg Walker urged fans to buy only from official sellers and resale outlets - and avoid being landed with tickets that are fake or that end up being cancelled because they were sold on illegally.

Walker, a long-time investigator of touting scams at the Iridium Consultancy, said: "First I would urge fans to be patient and not to act too impulsively if they fail to get tickets on the morning of the public sale.

"By this stage a lot of ordinary fans feel very under pressure to go to unauthorised resale sites, all of which will be screaming about scarcity and how it's the last chance to buy.

"There are very clear pitfalls here for fans. The first is that they could easily buy an expensive ticket that doesn't exist.

"The second is they could buy a ticket from a tout who used an online 'bot' that illegally harvested tickets.

"In that case their ticket would be cancelled and they could be out for hundreds of pounds, at least. The terms and conditions for the Oasis tour are very clear that unauthorised resales will be cancelled and UK law also forbids the most common practices of touts, so it's a bad idea to stray onto the rogue sites."