Better Business Bureau: Watch Out For Scams When Buying Tickets
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - If you're hoping to get last minute tickets to Ariana Grande's show tonight, you're going to want to be careful.
The Better Business Bureau is warning consumers to be on the lookout for scams when they're purchasing tickets for popular Pittsburgh summer events.
When one local woman tried to buy tickets to the Ariana Grande concert tonight at PPG Paints Arena, tickets were almost $300.
She found someone selling tickets for $175.
"They had told me they could transfer the tickets from their Ticketmaster account to mine and I could pay through Zelle after," the report the woman submitted to BBG's Scam Tracker says.
The woman says she was able to claim the tickets through her Ticketmaster account, which made her think the tickets were legitimate, so she transferred the money.
She then sent money to the seller through Zelle, which is a digital payment service like PayPal and Venmo.
However, hours later, she says she received a Ticketmaster notification saying that the tickets were purchased fraudulently. Ticketmaster canceled the tickets.
The report says she lost over $500 and the chance to see Ariana Grande in concert.
"Unfortunately, this is an all too common situation when it comes to hot tickets for costly events and scammers will price tickets just below the actual selling price to tempt buyers without raising suspicion," says Warren King, president of the Better Business Bureau of Western Pa. in a press release.
King says that its an easy ploy for scammers to buy tickets with stolen credit card information and quickly resell the tickets with a payment method that's both untraceable and irreversible.
The Better Business Bureau advises consumers to conduct purchases through verified sources that offer money back and full refunds after cancellations.