*Organizers of Ariana Grande’s “One Love Manchester” benefit concert on Sunday are dealing with thousands of people attempting to score free tickets by claiming they were victims of the terrorist attack, according to The Washington Post.
The event, featuring Pharrell Williams, Usher, Katy Perry, Justin Bieber and others, was announced after a suicide bombing left 22 people dead at Manchester Arena last month, just as Grande’s concert was letting out.
Thousands of tickets for Sunday’s benefit went on sale Thursday, but organizers had also set aside a substantial amount of free tickets for those who had been at the Grande concert where the attack occurred. Later that day, Ticketmaster announced that more than 25,000 people had applied for those tickets, when only around 14,000 people are thought to have been at Grande’s concert May 22.
“Sadly, over 10,000 unscrupulous applications have been made,” Ticketmaster said in a statement.
In addition to the 14,200 places set aside for attendees of the original concert, around 35,000 additional tickets had been available for sale through Ticketmaster. These tickets are reported to have sold out in just 20 minutes. The BBC reports that some tickets have appeared for sale on eBay, where they were listed at inflated prices.
One Love Manchester ♡ June 4th https://t.co/nppsvzhxvC pic.twitter.com/jGlisp22HO
— Ariana Grande (@ArianaGrande) June 1, 2017
Both eBay and Ticketmaster are working to block any reselling of the tickets, but that has slowed the process of getting tickets to genuine attendees of the first concert and has led to some frustration among fans. On Friday, Ticketmaster announced that it had processed 12,000 tickets for fans from the first concert.
“We will not stop until we have as many genuine fans at the show as possible,” the statement read.
Sunday’s show is due to take place at the Emirates Old Trafford cricket ground, which houses around 50,000 people for a music event. Grande had pledged to return to Manchester to raise money and honor the victims of the attack, which the Islamic State claimed responsibility for.
Proceeds from the concert, which will also be broadcast around the world, will go to a fund designed to help those affected by the attack and their families.
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