UPDATE: As of 10 a.m. Friday, Aug. 2, Hannah Sillanpa’s tickets were restored to her Ticketmaster account. Sillanpa tells News 8 she is “super grateful” to have the tickets back.

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Hackers are stealing Taylor Swift “Eras Tour” tickets by forcing their way into Ticketmaster accounts and transferring the tickets before the ticketholder can secure the account.

Hannah Sillanpa, of Beech Grove, said a hacker gained access to her account Wednesday night and despite jumping into action to secure it, her Eras Tour tickets were gone.

Sillanpa was set to go to the third night of the ‘Eras tour’ in Indianapolis. That is all up in the air as Ticketmaster’s fraud division investigates.

“I think a hacker got into my account, stole my tickets and sold them to someone willing to pay thousands of dollars,” Sillanpa said.

Sillanpa noticed the attack when she started receiving strange emails, but lost access to it for a period when the hackers changed the email address and password on the account.

Sillanpa, 24, said she is a huge fan and has been one for most of her life. Considering Swift’s career spans 17 years, that puts this hacking victim at roughly 7 years old when she first became a fan.

Sillanpa said this would have been her first chance to see Swift in concert. Now, that chance may have been stolen.

“The tour to end all tours,” Sillanpa said. “I was an emotional wreck the day I got the tickets.”

Sillanpa has control of the account again, but the tickets are still gone. She is still working with Ticketmaster’s fraud division to try and get them back.

“It really does kinda shine a whole light on the whole Ticketmaster situation,” Sillanpa said. “You know, I never thought I would be in this situation at all, and I think that the system needs to be reworked.”

Indiana University cyber security expert Scott Shackelford said these incidents are all too common.
Prevention is key.

“The more layers you have on top of each other, the harder it is for a hacker to find it,” Shackelford said. “Not reusing your passwords. Using a password manager if you need to. Using multi-factor authentication.”

“None of that’s foolproof, but it does make it a lot less likely that your account is going to be compromised,” Shackelford said.

Sillanpa said she feels like a dream was stolen.

“I’ve been in an anxiety meltdown all day, and probably will be over the weekend,” Sillanpa said. “Sad for me and for the person that bought them because they don’t know that they’re stolen.”

Ticketmaster told Sillanpa it will take 24 – 48 hours to investigate this fraud claim, meaning it could take until Monday for an update if it’s not investigated over the weekend.

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