Physics 3333 / Event Tickets

Fraudulent Ticket Sales

Always remember our mantra - if there is a way to swindle you, someone is out there trying it. Now - along that line - here's another scam.

The FBI reports that scammers are offering to sell tickets to major events like the Super Bowl. This happened in February of 2007. You may find much sought-after tickets listed on an on-line auction site (guess which one!) and want to purchase them. You enter a bid and win the tickets.

The seller will ask you to wire the payment quickly to be sure that you get the tickets. The destination for the money will be somewhere out of the country. The seller may claim to be selling the tickets because they are currently travelling abroad and cannot use them.

Now what?

In short, you have been scammed.

Once the money is wired to the "seller," your goose is cooked. One of two things will happen.

  1. The scammer takes your money and runs and the tickets never arrive.
  2. The tickets arrive. They are counterfeit. They will almost certainly be detected at the gate.
In either case you lose.

Moral: a seller request for you to wire payment to an address outside the country is a red flag. Buying tickets on an online auction site is risky. Need we go on?