INDIANAPOLIS -- The Indiana Attorney General’s office has issued a warning about a possible scam targeting football who plan to attend this weekend’s Big Ten Championship game between Northwestern and Ohio State at Lucas Oil Stadium.
The AG’s office says football fans should beware of buying tickets from sites that are not reputable or people off the street using cash.
They say buyers who get scammed typically have no way to get their money back if the tickets end up being fake.
The AG’s office says the safest way to buy tickets is through Big Ten’s approved vendor, which is Ticketmaster, although many people opt to buy them off the street or on Craigslist or Facebook in order to save money.
“They didn’t want to purchase tickets early on because they didn’t know who was going to be in the game,” Betsy DeNardi with the Indiana AG’s Consumer Protection Division says. “Now we know it's Ohio State and Northwestern, so those fans may now want to purchase tickets. Our advice is you should first go to a reputable site where they have a guarantee that you will receive those tickets and if you don't receive those tickets or they're a scam, there are policies in place to assist you with refunds and things like that.”
The AG’s office offers the following advice to anyone looking to buy tickets:
- Always double check to make sure your tickets have the right dates and times
- Get the name and phone number of the ticket seller and check them out before you buy
If you believe you’ve been scammed, report it to the Attorney General’s office. DeNardi says they will take action against scammers, including filing a civil lawsuit or referring the matter to the prosecution for criminal charges, but they need as much information as possible about the scammer in order to do that.
