Oasis tickets 'My Instagram was used for a £1,400 scam'

A music fan was shocked when scammers used her identity to sell Oasis tickets to her unsuspecting friends. Hilary Osborne reports

- Hilary Osborne reports

Lauren Jones* was on her way home from a gig when she realised something was wrong. After having no reception all day, her mobile started pinging with messages containing verifications for her LinkedIn, Vinted and Facebook accounts. Someone was trying to change her contact details.

At home she discovered the hackers were also trying to take over her Instagram account. She tried to sort it out but it was late and, she says, "I thought 'what damage could they do?'." Within 24 hours she knew the answer: using her account, the hackers advertised tickets to tonight's Oasis gig at Wembley Stadium and stole £1,400 from her unsuspecting friends. They then sent a text demanding $100 (£75) to return the Instagram account. All day she was fielding messages from contacts. "I had about 20 different people text, saying they were about to send over the money and could I hold the tickets for them," she says.

"The hackers had impersonated me so well that my friends and family genuinely thought they were speaking to me."

Three weeks later, she is still locked out of her account, and Instagram has refused to recognise it as being fraudulent. It has ignored her requests for help. It did not respond to Guardian Money's requests for comment.

Jones is a music fan and so the Instagram story offering four tickets to a concert did not seem out of place to her 600 followers - even her sister believed she had them to sell. "I've just returned from Glastonbury and I was away for Bruce Springsteen," she says.