Robert Smith says The Cure have cancelled 7,000 scalped tickets

The Cure‘s Robert Smith has confirmed the band have cancelled 7,000 tickets found on secondary resale websites in a bid to tackle touts.

As part of the on-sale process for their forthcoming North American tour, the frontman opted out of Ticketmaster’s “platinum” and “dynamically priced” ticket options, and restricted ticket transfers in markets where he was legally allowed to do so in places like New York, Illinois, and Colorado, which have all enacted legislation protecting resellers.

Following the band’s move to do this, Smith tonight (March 31) announced: “Approx 7k tickets across approx 2200 orders have been cancelled. These are tickets acquired with fake accounts / listed on secondary resale sites.”

‘IHBT’ #? “Approx 7k tickets across approx 2200 orders have been cancelled. These are tickets acquired with fake accounts / listed on secondary resale sites. TM have identified specific locations from secondary postings” #ShowsOfALostWorld2023

— ROBERT SMITH (@RobertSmith) March 31, 2023

Earlier today he also warned ticket buyers from attempting to circumvent ticket transfer rules.

“OFFERING TO SELL/SEND ACCOUNT LOGIN DETAILS TO GET AROUND TM TRANSFER LIMITATIONS… ANY/ALL TICKETS OBTAINED IN THIS WAY WILL BE CANCELED, AND ORIGINAL FEES PAID ON THOSE TICKETS WILL NOT BE REFUNDED,” Smith added.

“..ORIGINAL FEES PAID ON THOSE TICKETS WILL BE DONATED TO AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL, AND THE TICKETS THEMSELVES WILL BE RESOLD TO FANS.”

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BEWARE ANOTHER SCALPER SCAM: OFFERING TO SELL/SEND ACCOUNT LOGIN DETAILS TO GET AROUND TM TRANSFER LIMITATIONS… ANY/ALL TICKETS OBTAINED IN THIS WAY WILL BE CANCELED, AND ORIGINAL FEES PAID ON THOSE TICKETS WILL NOT BE REFUNDED… #ShowsOfALostWorld23

— ROBERT SMITH (@RobertSmith) March 31, 2023

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…ORIGINAL FEES PAID ON THOSE TICKETS WILL BE DONATED TO @amnesty AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL, AND THE TICKETS THEMSELVES WILL BE RESOLD TO FANS #ShowsOfALostWorld23

— ROBERT SMITH (@RobertSmith) March 31, 2023

The Cure singer has taken Ticketmaster to task in recent weeks over its “unduly high” service fees for tickets to his band’s upcoming North American tour. Some fans claimed that Ticketmaster fees, including service fee, facility charge and order processing fee, exceeded the price of the actual tickets.

Earlier this month Smith persuaded Ticketmaster to issue small refunds to verified ticket buyers over the “unduly high” service fees.

He wrote on Twitter on March 16 following the launch of The Cure’s US tour tickets: “After further conversation, Ticketmaster have agreed with us that many of the fees being charged are unduly high, and as a gesture of goodwill have offered a $10 per ticket refund to all verified fan accounts for Lowest Ticket Price (‘LTP’) transactions.”

The band announced a 30-date tour across the US, which is set to kick off at Smoothie King Center in New Orleans on May 10 before closing out at the Miami-Dade Arena in Florida on July 1, earlier this month.

In related news, Neil Young has now weighed in on the current state of touring following Ticketmaster’s controversy with The Cure.