While the BBB Accredited, A+ Rated Baltimore Ravens wait to face Houston on January 15th for their Divisional Playoff game at M&T Bank Stadium, fans should be cautious purchasing tickets from resellers warns Better Business Bureau | Greater Maryland.
Tickets for the Ravens first home playoff game sold out in 14 minutes on January 3rd, leaving many fans longing for a second chance to grab a seat and cheer on their team. But, devoted supporters should not let the purple fog befallen the city hamper sound judgment when hunting for tickets.
The endless options available through a search engine could lead prospective ticket buyers into overload with sites such as eBay yielding over 700 different sellers with prices from $200 to $1,650 per ticket. Within just two days, craigslist had nearly a thousand posts advertising single tickets at $300 to $1200. Many posts refer buyers to various ticket broker websites. A search on StubHub generated over a thousand results ranging in similar tickets prices as NFL Exchange from $286 to $1,100 each.
Baltimore fans are excited to watch the Ravens at home during the playoffs, so demand for tickets is huge. Unfortunately, unsportsmanlike scammers will parlay this opportunity to dupe fans and score big money.
The sale of counterfeit and non-existent tickets is a common sporting and event scam. Nationwide there have been numerous reports over the years of counterfeit ticket holders arriving at the stadium gate only to be turned away. A Pennsylvania man was arrested on December 20, 2011 for allegedly scamming his co-workers out of thousands of dollars by promising his victim Eagles tickets. He was accused of using a fake friend and fake email address, negotiating the price of the tickets and collectinh the money, but no tickets were delivered!
Buying tickets through the “secondary market” rather than straight from the venue is now the only option for Ravens fans. By some estimates, “one in every 12 people booking seats online for major sporting events has fallen for a ticket scam. Scammers most often strike when the demand is high, the supply is limited, and time is running out – creating a sense of urgency. BBB recommends the following tips when shopping for playoff and popular event tickets:
Online tickets are now your primary offense: Common scams for online ticket purchases include selling authentic tickets multiple times, buying counterfeit tickets that don’t exist, or advertising ticket sales through a legitimate site but diverting the buyer away from the site to “seal the deal” and collecting the credit card information to be used by the scammer for his own gain. When buying tickets online, consider the following:
- Determine the online site is authentic and a reliable source with a positive history. Sites such as gotickets.com are BBB Accredited and NFL ticket exchange and Ticketmaster have a proven track record. Their websites have been registered publicly and for extended years. These sites provide full disclosure of the business, business model, and terms/conditions and customer privacy and protection. Look for BBB Accredited Business logo to select a ticket broker that has been screened by BBB and click on the logo to be sure it is authentic. You can find reviews on ticket brokers at bbb.org
- When purchasing tickets online, always use a credit card or PayPal, so that charges can be disputed.
- Never pay the seller by wire transfer.
- Ask for a photo of the ticket, verify the date, using the venue’s seating chart, confirm the seat exists, and confirm the name of the holder on the ticket (if any) is the actual seller or get the background explanation (and if paying top dollar) and verify with the original ticket holder.
- Avoid clicking on game day sweepstakes offers or contests through unsolicited email as this may be either a ruse to steal your credit card information or to release malware and viruses into your computer.
- Be wary of sellers who lure buyers away from a legitimate site to another site for the transaction. Scammers will try to conduct their business on sites with similar names of well-known companies but are actually fake.
- Never go alone to pick up tickets purchased from someone online, and always meet in a public place. The “seller” knows when and where you’re going to be, and that you’re carrying a lot of cash. He/she may be setting you up to get robbed. In addition, if payment is requested to be by check, pay using a cashier’s check to protect the account information. When possible, pay only ½ of the ticket cost at the time of purchase, and the balance upon receipt, whether it is by mail or personal exchange.
And if you’re thinking about trying your luck getting tickets off the street: According to the Baltimore Ravens game day and ticket site, Maryland state regulations prohibit ticket resale on stadium property. Ticket scalping (selling a ticket for more than its face value) is prohibited in the City of Baltimore. If you buy tickets off the man on the street on game day, you do need to recognize it is illegal. Buying counterfeit tickets or tickets already used but “slipped out of the stadium – or a handoff” are the obvious risks for purchasing tickets through a scalper. Today’s quality printers enable the tickets to be easily counterfeited and attendants using “meters or bar code scanners” leave tickets intact, making it easy for scalpers to make that “sneak” play for tickets that will leave you out of the stadium, and from the looks of it, out in the cold on the January 15th game day!
