TOOWOOMBA'S Empire Theatre is warning residents to be wary of scalpers and resale sites when buying tickets to upcoming shows. 

The warning comes after the news that controversial resale sites started selling tickets to British chart-topper Ed Sheeran's 2018 Australian concerts for double the price, just hours after Tuesday's pre-sale. 

The Empire Theatre is hosting singer, songwriter and actress Clare Bowen in July and Tina Arena's greatest hits tour in September.

Geneva-based resale site Viagogo is selling tickets to these shows. 

The Empire Theatre took to Facebook and Instagram last night to issue the warning.

Its post read: "The Empire Theatres wishes to advise our patrons that we are the only authorised seller of tickets for shows at the the Empire Theatre."

"A number of ticket re-sale sites such as Viagogo are currently selling tickets to Tina Arena and Clare Bowen.

"Customers are warned that tickets purchased through these sites are not authorised and are at risk of being denied entry."

Viagogo is an online ticket marketplace for buying and selling tickets to live events and has a network of more than 60 global websites with customers in 160 countries.