MUSIC fans are today being warned not to buy concert tickets from touts selling them at inflated prices on the internet.The warning follows the discovery by The Evening Star that unscrupulous touts have been buying up tickets to the Red Hot Chili Peppers' Portman Road concert to sell on at a higher price on internet auction websites.

MUSIC fans are today being warned not to buy concert tickets from touts selling them at inflated prices on the internet.

The warning follows the discovery by The Evening Star that unscrupulous touts have been buying up tickets to the Red Hot Chili Peppers' Portman Road concert to sell on at a higher price on internet auction websites.

Many of the sales are accompanied by false claims the June 30 concert has sold out - but thousands of tickets are still available from official sellers.

It was announced last week the multi-million album selling rockers would be embarking on a UK tour, with the first concert at the Ipswich Town Football Club ground.

The tour announcement was eagerly anticipated and many fans pre-registered with the band's website in order to get the first chance at buying tickets before they went on general sale last Friday.

But greedy sellers keen to cash in on the tour at the expense of real fans are now selling the tickets at higher prices than the £40 each they paid for them, while conning buyers into believing all tickets have sold out. Some tickets are on sale on the internet for as much as £150 a pair.

Steve Guest of concert organisers Live Nation confirmed tickets were still available on general sale and warned people not to pay the huge prices being demanded by touts.

“Tickets are selling for the Portman Road show but it is not sold out - do not buy from unscrupulous sellers,” he said.

“People doing this is a big problem. Obviously we are in the business of selling tickets but this isn't good for the customers.

“On this tour the Chili's really wanted to keep the prices as low as possible and now you get these people selling tickets at these prices.

“We don't want people to be scammed into paying four or five times as much for the tickets as they should do.”

Touts will have already paid for £40 price of the tickets and are now trying to make a profit on them, Mr Guest said.

“People do it because they know there is the demand, at the moment we can't stop them doing it. The profit all goes into the tout's pockets and they are ripping people off.”

Up to 5,000 tickets are still available for the concert and can be bought officially online from www.getlive.co.uk or by calling 0871 230 2608.