BEWARE: Live Stream Concert Scams Are Now A Thing

As music live streams grow popularity they’ve also attracted scammer seeking to profit from it.

The music live stream scams come in two forms.

Fake Events

Several Facebook pages are listing fake events and encouraging fans to hand over personal information to register. This one hijacks Universal Music Group’s name and logo.

Bogus Donation Links

Other scammers post fake donations or tip jar links on existing live streams.

When Oakland, CA musicians Steve Lucky & the Rhumba Bums featuring Miss Carmen Getit announced a livestream, several Facebook profiles bombarded the comments section with fraudulent links.

“They were using the identical artwork I created for our actual Facebook event,” Getit told KQED. “When users clicked on the fake links, they were asked to buy a membership to view the live feed. The imposters posted over 100 times in our Facebook event with fake livestream links.” They estimate that the scam cost them more than $500.

“When they tried to report the attack to Facebook, they found that “their interface leaves no room for explanations,” Getit said. “Facebook responded by saying my reports of ‘violating Facebook’s guidelines’ didn’t actually fall within their definitions.”