An event I bought tickets for was cancelled and I got a message about claiming my refund — could this be fake?
Yes, cancellation refund scams are common. Scammers watch for cancelled events and send fake refund forms asking for bank details or card numbers, when the real refund would be processed automatically to your original payment method.
Last reviewed: 5 July 2026
Explanation
When a widely attended event is cancelled, whether due to weather, a performer issue, or venue problems, scammers move quickly to send messages that mimic official refund notices. These messages typically ask you to 'confirm your bank details' or click a link to a form requesting a full card number, expiry date, and security code — details a legitimate refund process never needs, since refunds are issued to the same payment method used for the original purchase.
The scam works because a genuine cancellation creates real anxiety about lost money, and people are primed to expect some kind of communication about a refund, making a fake one easy to slip past normal skepticism. Scammers often source cancelled-event news from public announcements and blast messages to email lists or social media, without needing any inside information about who actually bought tickets.
The safest approach is to check the refund status directly through the account you used to buy the ticket, rather than clicking any link in an unsolicited message. If a refund is genuinely owed, it will typically appear automatically or be claimable through your existing account without needing to hand over payment details again.
Common red flags
- Message asks for a full card number or security code to 'process' a refund
- Refund link doesn't match the ticketing platform's known domain
- Message arrives from a personal email address rather than the platform's official one
- Urgency to 'claim within 24 hours or forfeit the refund'
- Request to pay a 'processing fee' before the refund is released
- Grammar or formatting inconsistent with the platform's normal communications
What to do now
- Log into your ticketing account directly to check refund status rather than clicking any link
- Never provide a full card number or security code to receive a refund
- Contact the platform's official customer service to confirm the cancellation and refund process
- Report any suspicious refund message to the platform and to your email provider
- If you've already entered payment details on a suspicious page, contact your bank immediately
- Warn others in relevant fan or community groups if the scam is targeting a specific cancelled event
Frequently asked questions
Do legitimate refunds ever require a processing fee?
No. A genuine refund for a cancelled event is issued back to your original payment method without requiring any upfront fee from you.
How do I check if my refund is real without risking a scam?
Log into the ticketing platform's app or website directly using a bookmark or manually typed address, and check your order history there rather than trusting an email or text link.