The Gold Coast half marathon sold out in four hours and the full marathon sold out in four days with more than 10,000 people on the waiting list. Scammers have been flooding social media sites offering to sell non-existent tickets.
00:00Jessica Yapella loves to run. This year she was hoping to fulfill her dream of competing in the Gold Coast Half Marathon.
00:11The Gold Coast is stunning, so obviously it will be a beautiful run, but I think it's also the feeling of people coming together to do something so special.
00:21But when the event sold out in record time, the 33 year old turned to the internet for a resale ticket.
00:28One night I went into this Facebook group which I thought was legit because of the amount of members that are in that group.
00:35After transferring money for the ticket, Miss Yapella realised she'd fallen victim to a scam.
00:40It's about the act and how can we not feel secure on the internet with anything.
00:46The Gold Coast Marathon is one of the city's biggest events. This year 38,000 people will run across two days, with more than 10,000 still on the waitlist.
00:57Experts say given the event's popularity, it's no surprise it's become a magnet for scammers.
01:03There's been an upsurge in this kind of thing around the world. Any major sporting event seems to attract this.
01:11Race organisers are urging anyone trying to buy a resale ticket to contact them to make sure it's legitimate.
01:17Just like any event, whether it's a Taylor Swift concert or whether it's something that involves ticketing, you're going to get scammers.
01:24We want people to be diligent.
01:26If an offer looks too good to be true and if there's time pressure involved, then it is probably a scam.
01:34For now, Jessica Yapella is looking ahead to next year.
01:37So I'm definitely disappointed but I know it's going to come again. I'm definitely going to be watching it.
