Over a 1,000 tickets of the upcoming Barbra Streisand US tours have been axed off the list of valid tickets due to purchase through credit card frauds, the actress-singer's manager Martin Erlichman and the tour's official ticket seller Ticketmaster said.
Bought through stolen credit card numbers from the official Web site of the tour, these tickets were put online for resale. So, many of the owners of the invalidated tickets might be unsuspecting fans.
However, the organizers are firm that the invalidated tickets would not be entertained irrespective of who the buyer is. “Fans who have purchased or who are considering purchasing Barbra Streisand tickets on those sites are not guaranteed admittance to the venue. The 'buyers beware' adage applies here more than ever,” Erlichman said.
The tour is the first that the
Meet the Fockers star is taking up after a 12-year sabbatical. A lion's share of the spoils of the 19-concert tour would go to charities that Streisand supports. Her last tour in 1994, which comprised 26 concerts, was a runaway hit, earning over US$10.25 million, of which the actress-singer gave away over US$3 million to non-profit organizations supporting AIDS research and rehabilitation of HIV victims.
Back to the tickets, Ticketmaster said that the list of the invalidated tickets is available online on http://www.ticketmaster.com/barbrastreisand. Fans can check their tickets against the list and report the matter to law enforcement authorities or demand a refund if their tickets are on the list.
“It is a serious violation of the law to try to buy concert tickets using stolen credit card information and, when successful, to resell those tickets to unknowing consumer victims through resale Web sites. With the Streisand tour the unusually high number of incidents of fraud has prompted us to issue this specific warning,” said Sean Moriarty, the president of Ticketmaster. He added that agency was working with authorities to 'identify the source of this fraud and prosecute to the full extent of the law'. Tickets for the tour that begins in Philadelphia on October 4 cost between US$100 and US$750.
Michael Cohl, a spokesman for tour promoter CPI Concerts, said that it is imperative that concertgoers by the tickets from the right channels – the venue or Ticketmaster. “We're hoping this warning will help to protect fans not only from losing their money, but also from missing the opportunity to attend a concert they've waited so long to see,” he said.
Sixty-four-year-old Streisand is a noted actress and singer, and is the recipient of two Academy Awards, 10 Grammies, 11 Golden Globes, six Emmys, one Tony award, American Film Institute's Lifetime Achievement Award, and Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, among several others. Her most recent work was
Guilty Pleasures with Barry Gibb that was released in 2005. Streisand earlier said that she wanted to perform live concerts only to support her humanitarian causes.
“The increasingly urgent need for private citizen support to combat dangerous climate change, along with education and health issues was the prime reason I decided to tour again. This will allow me to direct funds and awareness to causes that I care deeply about,” she was quoted as saying earlier. Streisand remains one of the bestselling American female singers of all times.
