Scam Alert on Craigslist: Section 140

Saw great seats for an unbelievable price for the Cowboys game this Sunday on craiglist. Section 140, forget which row, but they wanted $500 for all 4 seats or $250 for a pair.

Already thinking this might be a scam because it was too good to be true. I e-mailed the buyer back and forth and they wanted to go through eBay Buyer Protection which seemed odd since the tickets were bought through eBay.

I did some research on eBay Buer Protection scams and everything that was told to look for, this guy was doing. Only would use Money Orders, a reason they couldn't meet in person, a reason they couldn't use paypal, an e-mail that looked like eBay sent it although it was a regular email that sent it just on behalf of ebay.

Just want to give everyone a heads up because many, like me, are scrambling and desperate to get tickets.The name used was Stacey Locke from Fargo, ND.

P.S. Still looking for 2.

Saw great seats for an unbelievable price for the Cowboys game this Sunday on craiglist. Section 140, forget which row, but they wanted $500 for all 4 seats or $250 for a pair.

Already thinking this might be a scam because it was too good to be true. I e-mailed the buyer back and forth and they wanted to go through eBay Buyer Protection which seemed odd since the tickets were bought through eBay.

I did some research on eBay Buer Protection scams and everything that was told to look for, this guy was doing. Only would use Money Orders, a reason they couldn't meet in person, a reason they couldn't use paypal, an e-mail that looked like eBay sent it although it was a regular email that sent it just on behalf of ebay.

Just want to give everyone a heads up because many, like me, are scrambling and desperate to get tickets.The name used was Stacey Locke from Fargo, ND.

P.S. Still looking for 2.

Thanks for the heads up. I knew those tickets were too good of a price.

Only buy tickets from "owners" on craigslist, IF you go that rout, and NEVER pay for ANY THING with a money order, if thats how someone wants a payment, thats a red flag in itself

yeah those usually are nigerian scams.

Probably a cowboys fan...

I was burned earlier this year...but thanks goodness the guy was desperate. He accepted payment through paypal. so we got our money back and charges put against him.

I encountered a similar scam from a different name.

Check out this site here for a similar scam: http://www.crackedjustice.com/scam-alert-craigslist-and-stubhub-be-warned/

Here are the emails I received from brendaflores009 @ gmail.com :

Content of email from "Brenda Flores"

Email One:

Thanks for your interest. The selling price of seats (4) for this event is: $700. Seats are in great position to see whole game, side-by-side. Please let me know either way, if you want them or not.

Thank you!

Email Two:

We have a deal, all 4 tix for $700. I am not home right now because my sister suffered a head trauma and she has been transferd to National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery in London,UK for a brain investigation, and I had to come with her to take care and watch things around until the doctors investigate and make sure she's alright. I don't mean to impose, but I was just explaining my situation.

For added security, we use StubHub Fan Protect Guarantee. It acts as a 3rd part, that means I can not access the money until you confirm that you get all the tickets. Stubhub will send you the tickets via FedEx company using FedEx overnight express delivery service (i already send the tickets to stubhub 2 days ago) Fan Protect Guarantee policy requires that the tickets must be shipped to them. More details about the method of payment and delivery of tickets, you will find in the sales contract that you'll receive from StubHub. I look forward your reply, if everything is OK with what I wrote above, so we can move to the next step.

All I want now from you is to tell me what name and address will receive the tickets, so i can inform StubHub.

Thank you!

Email Three:

The business is simple, all I need is confirmation that you want to conclude the deal and immediately afterwards I will contact StubHub notify them that we agreed on sales detail and they send you an invoice to pay. All the answers about how an exchange take place between a buyer and seller find them in that bill payment. You have to send the money on the name of an agent from StubHub.Read carefully the message from them, follow all steps as are described. Immediately after you send the money transfer you have to send all the details you are required by StubHub. They will check if the transfer is made and if everything is ok,they will overnight them to you via FedEx. After you receive your tickets, you have 24 hours available to check if they are those you have bought, then you must inform StubHub, as tickets are ok. Only then StubHub send me a copy of payment details that I could collect the money.

I dealt with several of these people when trying to buy tickets from craigslist for the game in Pittsburgh earlier this year. Same thing everytime, wanted to set up a transaction through Ebay, even though it wasn't Ebay, it was a fake link and then had to use Western Union. I didn't send any money obviously. The key is to use PayPal. That way you are covered. Even if you are able to meet the person, they could still give you fake tickets or even worse, rob you. You wouldn't know they were fake until the game and then you would be out of your money. If you paid with paypal, you would be covered and would get a refund while paypal would press charges.

Yes, the counterfeit tix look like this in this scam.

As far as I know, any Redskins tickets that have "ticketmaster" on them like this are counterfeit tix.

Be careful when buying on craigslist and in the lot. Know what to look for.

Hey MTH,

I got some Club SRO tix for Sunday's game on CL. The guy charged $200 each and I felt confident about them since I paid PayPal for the tickets, but I just got them in the mail and they are the paper printouts.

Now I am nervous about them. Is there any way to find out if duplicate copies were printed out?

I know I am protected by PayPal, but I still fear I will not be able to get in the game?

Should I just try and go in early and be sure I am the first person to scan my ticket?

Thanks for any insight.

I called the ticket office and ticketmaster about mine. They told me the account number was fake and short several digits. They should be able to tell you. I only will buy hard tickets and pay paypal for mine. I would double check.

Hey MTH,

I got some Club SRO tix for Sunday's game on CL. The guy charged $200 each and I felt confident about them since I paid PayPal for the tickets, but I just got them in the mail and they are the paper printouts.

Now I am nervous about them. Is there any way to find out if duplicate copies were printed out?

I know I am protected by PayPal, but I still fear I will not be able to get in the game?

Should I just try and go in early and be sure I am the first person to scan my ticket?

Thanks for any insight.

If I was buying on CL, I'd meet the guy in person.

I don't like that he didn't tell you in advance that the tix were pdfs. Still - they might be good.

Going in early wouldn't hurt.

But since you are protected by paypal, you might just bring a wad of cash and if the scan doesn't work, find a scalper.

Judgment call.

I emailed ticketmaster to see if there is any way to verify the tickets are not counterfeit.

I feel somewhat okay with it because the guy used an AOL email which has his first initial and part of his last name in it, and the paypal name matched up. I googled the name from the paypal account and it matches the return address on the envelope, which the postage has the same zip code on it.

Waiting on ticketmaster's response. Will post once I get a response.

Thanks ESers.

Hey MTH,

I got some Club SRO tix for Sunday's game on CL. The guy charged $200 each and I felt confident about them since I paid PayPal for the tickets, but I just got them in the mail and they are the paper printouts.

Now I am nervous about them. Is there any way to find out if duplicate copies were printed out?

I know I am protected by PayPal, but I still fear I will not be able to get in the game?

Should I just try and go in early and be sure I am the first person to scan my ticket?

Thanks for any insight.

You should be okay.

My goddaughter works for the Redskins and she gets a pair of tickets for every game and they're always PDF's with the bar code.

The pdf is not the problem - the ease of duplicating the pdf is the problem. Thankfully S98O used paypal...

I also got 2 pair of club level seats to this next game which are PDF as well.... I did not use paypal, however I did make the lady selling them to me sign a contract? I have her address and if they turn out to be fake or copies I can sue her and get my money back? im SO nervous about using these ticketmaster e-tickets

MTH - Your pic is identical to the bad fakes I saw at the Ravens game. The price said $130 which is bogus for LL tickets as they are $99 + tax.

Okay - I just got that pic from the craigslist ad.

Update on my tickets...

I emailed ticketmaster and asked if they could verify the tickets, and those douches told me, "The only way to know your tickets are real, is to purchase them from ticketmaster!"

Thanks for nothing.

I contacted the seller and asked him how I can verify the tickets are legit and he told me he got them from Vivid seats.

So, I did a Live Chat with a rep from Vivid Seats and they were able to verify the ticket order using the sellers email address and his full name. And they matched up, so I know the tickets are real.

The only way they won't be good is if he printed numerous copies or altered the bar code. But I feel much better and will be heading in to the stadium at 5:30 to avoid any issues with ticket duplication!

Thanks to all and good luck to those who bought on the aftermarket.

HTTR!

See you all at midfield after the we win...LOL!

I posted this on another thread in the stadium, but thought I would post this helpful info here too:

One way to tell if a ticket is real or not, even if it is a ticketfast ticket, season ticket, or whatever form it's in is to go to www.ticketexchangebyticketmaster.com. Go through the process of locating your event, and then try listing/selling your ticket. It will prompt you for the barcode of the ticket. If it is an active ticket and the barcode is good, it will tell you the exact seat and location of the ticket. If it is a bad ticket, it will give you an error message. If you were to actually go through the process and someone actually buys them, ticketexchange will imediately email them new ticketfast tickets with new barcodes which will void your old tickets.

The only thing this won't help with is if you bought a ticketfast printout from someone and they made 100 copies of it. The barcode would work fine on the ticketexchange website, however the only one that will work is the first printout that is scanned at the gate at FedEx.

By the way, I tried entering the barcodes off the tickets in MTH's picture and I couldn't get any of them to work, so I would say those tickets are defnitely fake. Unless I am not seeing the barcodes clear enough and entering in a wrong number or two, which I don't believe I am.

Some people are afraid of buying ticketfast tickets and would rather have the actual hard tickets. I personally don't care either way, as long as I know I bought the tickets from a trusted broker site, or used paypal when dealing with craigslist or Ebay.

great info josh.....and what good are hard tickets if you go into your account and reprint a .pdf? either way....there is no way for the buyer to be 100% certain...just hope that there are enough safeguards built into the system to prevent widespread abuse....with ticket prices like this I am certain that there will be many issues at the gate tomorrow evening!

great info josh.....and what good are hard tickets if you go into your account and reprint a .pdf? either way....there is no way for the buyer to be 100% certain...just hope that there are enough safeguards built into the system to prevent widespread abuse....with ticket prices like this I am certain that there will be many issues at the gate tomorrow evening!

What it does do is make me happy I have season tickets and even though, yes I pay a little more than someone who buys their tickets week to week, in these times it's worth the piece of mind knowing I will be getting through the gate fine and no one will be sitting in my seats when I get there.

What it does do is make me happy I have season tickets and even though, yes I pay a little more than someone who buys their tickets week to week, in these times it's worth the piece of mind knowing I will be getting through the gate fine and no one will be sitting in my seats when I get there.

I've shared that sentiment this week as well as I see others struggle to obtain tix at reasonable prices. Glad I added an extra pair prior to the season as well!

they may be sitting in your seats , BUT THERE YOUR SEATS

I posted this on another thread in the stadium, but thought I would post this helpful info here too:

One way to tell if a ticket is real or not, even if it is a ticketfast ticket, season ticket, or whatever form it's in is to go to www.ticketexchangebyticketmaster.com. Go through the process of locating your event, and then try listing/selling your ticket. It will prompt you for the barcode of the ticket. If it is an active ticket and the barcode is good, it will tell you the exact seat and location of the ticket. If it is a bad ticket, it will give you an error message. ...

This is great! Thanks!