Southfield, MI – October 11, 2011 – With the Tiger’s defeating the New York Yankees and now taking on the Texas Rangers in the American League Championship Series, fans are caught up in pennant fever. However, the Better Business Bureau (BBB) warns fans to beware of potential scams by fake ticket sellers seeking to cash in on playoff excitement.
The opportunity for sports fans to be scammed by fake ticket sellers occurs most often when people buy tickets from individuals outside the stadium, on the street or through online auctions, classifieds and bulletin boards.
“Sports fans can get burned by purchasing counterfeit tickets or paying in advance for tickets that never arrive,” said Patrick Bennett, BBB Director of Community Relations.
The secondary market for sporting and entertainment tickets is a $10 billion a year industry. It includes tickets bought and sold by professional brokers as well as those purchased and resold by speculators and season ticket holders.
“The Internet has become the arena of choice for sports fans looking to buy or sell tickets,” Bennett said. “Unfortunately, it also has become a breeding ground for scammers looking to take advantage of sports fans.”
The BBB’s database includes reputable, secondary market ticket firms that provide buyer protections, including money-back guarantees if tickets are fake. On some sites, sellers also must provide credit-card numbers so the site can charge a seller’s card for the cost of replacement tickets if they sell fake tickets. The Tigers have their own website for reselling tickets held by season ticket holders.
The BBB offers the following advice for fans seeking tickets:
- Be careful buying tickets from someone on the street. When you get to the gate and find out your tickets aren’t real, the seller will be long gone.
- Before buying from an online ticket broker, look for the BBB logo on the website and click on it to make sure it is real. The BBB’s dynamic seal will take you directly to the BBB Business Review on the company, where you can read about the company’s record for responding to complaints. Make sure the website has a secure payment processing system, usually denoted by “https://” at the start of its website address or URL or a small closed lock icon at the bottom of the screen.
- If you buy tickets through an online auction site, choose a seller with a long history of satisfied customers. Scammers can hijack old accounts, so make sure the seller has recently sold other tickets.
- Ticket buyers also should be wary of sellers who try to lure buyers from a legitimate site to another site for a “private” transaction. Scammers often want to conduct their business on sites with names that mimic well-known companies but actually are fakes.
- If you are buying tickets through an online classified ad site, never pay the seller by wire transfer. You will have no way to get your money back if the tickets do not arrive or are counterfeit.
Before you do business with a charity or company, check its BBB Business Review at www.bbb.org or by calling 248-223-9400.
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About Better Business Bureau
The Better Business Bureau Serving Eastern Michigan is a non-profit organization with the purpose of assisting in the protection of consumers and businesses from fraud and unethical business practices in the local marketplace. In addition to its recognized dispute resolution services, BBB maintains business reviews on the customer service history of more than 80,000 local businesses and provides consumer education materials on numerous topics. The service area of BBB Serving Eastern includes the eastern half of Michigan’s lower peninsula and the entire upper peninsula. For more information, visit www.easternmichiganbbb.org.