“I’m a Young Scamma, Scamma, Scamma”
-Guapdad 4000 (featured) on Shameless by Buddy
First things first, I love this Shameless song by Buddy. Anytime I hear the word scam, scammer, scammy, or scamma, I think of this song. So, here’s a link to the video.
But today’s topic is on Scammy tickets, scammers, fake tickets, frauds, etc and how to spot a fake online ticket. Today, I (unsuccessfully) tried to purchase resale Wale tickets. But out of the six or seven people I messaged, only ONE was a real person with real proof of their tickets. That’s why I’m writing this post. I didn’t fall for it because I’ve bought a lot of tickets and am familiar with the ticketing platforms and their parent organizations, etc. I don’t want anyone thinking that they can get over easily on others. It’s NOT OKAY. Fake Tickets are NOT OKAY. Peep the tips below and share this post to help a friend.
Don’t Get Scammed: Check the Ticketing Platform
A few blog posts ago, I outlined how you can take advantage of Presale ticketing options to make sure that you get tickets when they drop. So let’s say that you didn’t and now you’re looking for tickets. The first tip I’ll say is to pay attention to the ticketing platform that the tickets are sold through. Tickets are not sold through more than one of the following platforms: AXS, Ticketmaster, and Eventbrite (Eventbrite bought out Ticketfly). Literally they’re all competitors so if you can tell that a venue is owned by AEG, then you know that their ticketing system is 8/10 AXS. If they’re a smaller venue, they’ve probably moved to Eventbrite. If they’re owned by Live Nation (yes Live Nation owns Ticketmaster and properties), then the tix are available on Ticketmaster or Live Nation. Ticketmaster and Live Nation are really the same company. Live Nation ticket links take you to Ticketmaster.
This concert was distributed through Eventbrite. The venue typically used Ticketfly /Eventbrite. Ticketmaster WOULD NOT have been able to sell this ticket.
You Might Get Scammed (if you don’t): Check the Spelling
Literally, so many people (or bots) tried to sell me tickets to this Wale show and the spelling was way off (except one because the ticket was real). The ticket spelling will be consistent with the tour title on the official event page. By official event page, I’m referencing the official ticketing platform. Yes, Tickets can be purchased on Facebook, but that’s not the official platform. Those tickets are still connected to Eventbrite (more than likely).
For reference, The tour was stylized as Wale – Wow…That’s Crazy Tour.
But instead I was sent “proof of purchase” screenshots that had the following:
WALE WoW that’s crazy Tour
Wale “Wow…That’s Crazy Tour (literally where is the other quotation mark??)
Wale “Wow…That’s Crazy (guess the word Tour isn’t important?).
I also noticed typo errors in the images. For example a confirmation email had www..eventbrite.com
Eventbrite will not misspell their website and it still hyperlink. That’s not how the internet works.
Seriously, Don’t Get Scammed: Check the Event Information
Even if the show is sold out, there’s a high chance that you can still see the information for the show. Check the times of the show listed on the official event page. Eventbrite or Ticketmaster won’t magically change the start and end time of the show. It just doesn’t happen.
This ticket says that the Wale show runs from 8-11 PM EST. But the Eventbrite page shows that it’s 9 PM-12 AM CST. Someone’s lying and I doubt it’s Eventbrite.
More Fake Ticket Examples
The cost for one ticket was $25, not $50. I don’t trust third party ticket sellers and I’ve never used Ticketnetwork.com so why start now?
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