Bo Burnham show being advertised for Rogers Arena next month appears to be fake

This screenshot shows the Eventbrite page for the apparently fake Bo Burnham show.

Fans hoping to see comedian Bo Burnham in Vancouver next month are likely to be disappointed. Listings for a show at Rogers Arena on Eventbrite and Songkick appear to be fake. 

Morgan Andreychuk received a push notification about the show from Songkick, an app that suggests concerts based on users' Spotify histories.

The Songkick page brought him to the Eventbrite listing, where two types of tickets were available: one for roughly US$30 apiece, and the other for US$120.

"I basically just jumped at the opportunity and bought a bunch of tickets for me and my friends," Andreychuk told CTV News.

He said he bought six of the cheaper tickets, knowing that at least five of his friends would want to go.

Within minutes, however, he started to have doubts.

The listings purport to be part of Burnham's "Inside World Tour," which would ostensibly be a tour in support of the comic's hit 2021 special "Bo Burnham: Inside."

There are no tour dates listed on Burnham's official website, however, nor has he posted about any upcoming shows in Vancouver on social media. 

Andreychuk said he hoped that wires had simply been crossed, and that the organizers of the event made tickets available before the tour was supposed to be announced. He hoped he had been lucky.

Checking Reddit raised more red flags. Posts about the show suggested that it was a scam.

The purported show was scheduled for Nov. 21 at 10:32 p.m. The Vancouver Canucks are scheduled to host the Vegas Golden Knights at 7:30 that night.

Rogers Arena's events calendar does not advertise any upcoming Bo Burnham shows. 

Reddit users also noted that events at Rogers Arena are almost always sold through Ticketmaster.

Similarly, the organizer of the supposed Nov. 21 event – an Eventbrite user with the moniker "J" – lists 17 other past and upcoming events, but almost all of them have no intelligible details. 

For example, the organizer is selling tickets to an event supposedly scheduled for 7 p.m. at Montreal's Bell Centre on Sunday. The event is simply labeled "W," and the event description reads "2." Tickets are available for US$17.55.

There are no events scheduled for Sunday night at the Bell Centre, according to the venue's website. 

The organizer of the supposed Nov. 21 event – an Eventbrite user with the moniker "J" – lists 17 other past and upcoming events, but almost all of them have no intelligible details. Several of the listings are shown in this screenshot.

CTV News has reached out to Eventbrite and Canucks Sports and Entertainment – which operates Rogers Arena – to confirm that the advertised event is fake.

A spokesperson for CSE said it's physically impossible for the venue to host a concert and a hockey game at the same time, and added that he was checking internally for clarification on the concert schedule.

CTV News has also reached out to "J" for an explanation.

Andreychuk believes he's been scammed.

Eventbrite directs users seeking refunds to contact event organizers directly, but Andreychuk doubts that would be a fruitful exercise in this case. He told CTV News he went straight to his credit card provider to ask for a chargeback.

Andreychuk also wonders how the event listing ended up on Eventbrite in the first place. He said the push notification from Songkick – which he has used to learn about shows in the past and doesn't blame for the situation – added a veneer of credibility to the scam.

"How was somebody able to create an event that has a very popular artist and a very popular venue?" he asked.

He said he's hopeful that he'll get his money – about C$240, in total – back.

"I understand that I jumped the gun," he said. "I could've listened to my instincts sooner."