Organiser says thousands likely fell victim to Celine Dion ticket scam

Fans have been anticipating Grammy-winning singer Celine Dion's

return following her long stint away from the stage due to illness.

But many who have their tickets in hand will be disappointed when they

show up at her upcoming comeback concert in Paris, as organisers say

hundreds of fake takes have been sold online.

Management team at Paris' Plenitude Arena, the venue hosting

Celine Dion's 16 comeback shows in September and October, are bracing themselves

to turn away hundreds of fans each day with these four devastating words:

"Your tickets are fake."

The Canadian diva's long-awaited return to the concert stage

after years away from touring has unleashed massive

pent-up demand for tickets.

It's a perfect storm for scammers who have wormed their way

into fans' online communities and set up fraudulent ticketing

websites to manipulate and rob fans of both their money and

hopes of being able to say, "I was there," says an investigator

at a cybercecurity group that works with the

arena.

They know that if many people are interested in going to the concert

and are also struggling to find tickets because it's already sold out,

that's the best occasion for them to start selling fake tickets, working

on the hope and despair of the people who cannot at the moment

attend the event.

Fraudsters appear to have reused scamming tools that were also

deployed to target Taylor Swift's Eras tour.

At that time, the venue had to turn away about 400 to 500

Swifties who were duped.

A representative from the arena, where

the first show kicks off this coming Saturday,

says she expects they'll be turning away hundreds of

disappointed Dion fans each night.

The arena did not say what recourse these victims have,

only that there will be a help desk set up at the venue and

their cases referred to the police.

The arena rep says the best way to avoid falling victim is to

purchase only through official channels and cautions

that e-tickets are only

issued one week before the show.

And the QR codes will be available seven days before each show,

meaning if you're coming on September 12 and you already had a

ticket before the 5 of September, then you probably got scammed.