FOXBORO (AP) ― More than 50 people were turned away after trying to get into Sunday's game between the New England Patriots and Baltimore Ravens after buying counterfeit tickets on Craigslist that cost as much as $400.
"Buying tickets through Craigslist is an extremely risky, 'buyer beware' proposition," Patriots spokesman Stacey James said. "We strongly encourage Patriots fans to avoid Craigslist and similar sites."
File under "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is." If the tickets are available at an insanely good price, ask yourself why. If they're selling for just a little less than the going rate at the box officer or through an approved vendor, don't take the chance. The "fake ticket" scam is about as old as it comes, and with today's sophisticated image manipulation software and color laser printers a very real-looking counterfeit can be produced. One takes one's chances buying something as fungible as a ticket to a sporting event.
If you simply must, for whatever reason, buy tickets in such a manner, expect to be ripped off. Cheap, anonymous cell phones are available; ditto anonymous e-mails - be wary of anyone with a "Yahoo" or "Gmail" address and a cell-only number. When meeting folks, take down license plates, general descriptions, etc. - any information you can provide if you are scammed might help to identify and punish the scammer. The best course of action, if you wish to avoid getting scammed, is to simply buy direct and avoid the temptation to score cheap.
Because, as 50 fans found out, cheap tickets that leave you on the outside looking in can be quite expensive...
That is all.
5 comments:
Try this one on for size. My daughters both had fundraisers that consisted of selling coupon books for local establishments.
We tried to use one of the coupons this weekend, but the store said that whoever printed them did not clear it with any of the stores in the area.
I hope that's the only coupon. If others happen like that, there will be people demanding refunds.
WV - BickG. Is that a cousin of yours?
Robb,
Ooh, that's not good. Whoever approved that coupon should be fired.
What's disappointing, however, is that the store wouldn't honor it - not exactly building up community relations there.
And that's my Vietnamese half-brother, actually... ;)
Buying something like that off craigslist would probably cause me to take precautions of taking the persons picture, a picture of their drivers license and tag, and the open google street view and ask them to describe their house and the houses to either side.
Some friends and I travel to a Giants game each year, usually some warm weather place like Atlanta, AZ or Florida (either city).
One year in Atlanta my brother and I had crappy seats so we traded up with some extra cash.
We were a little under the weather (must have been jet lag. We only had like 30 beers each).
When we got to the gate the girl swiped my ticket and said, "Oh, you've already been in."
As I tried to figure out what she said and how to respond, another guy said, "Come this way" and let us into the stadium without hitting the turnstile.
Late in the 1st quarter two people showed up and one had my seat. We moved over. In the second, two more people showed up and one had my brother's seat.
Luckily we could see the field from the concession area in that stadium so we just followed the ball up and down the field on the concourse. We were still on the first level so they were actually good "seats".
We had bought counterfeit tickets and the ticket guy still let us in.
I wonder if that's a form of welfare for Atlanta residents. Allow them to counterfeit tickets.
If the fools who buy them complain too much they probably just get kicked out. "Scalping is illegal. Now you know why fool".
Good stuff Jay, I just wrote a similar blog on tips to avoid being scammed, covering some of your suggestions. We're on the same page:
http://tixlist.wordpress.com/2010/10/18/craigslist-scammers-suck-ten-tips-on-how-to-avoid-them/
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