Ticket selling scams happen when a scammer uses tickets as bait to steal your money. The scammer usually sells fake tickets, or you pay for a ticket, but never receive it. They are common when tickets for popular concerts, plays, and sporting events sell out. Ways That Ticket Scammers Go After Your Money Scammers, including individuals and fake resale companies, take advantage of ticket shortages by: Charging prices much higher than the face value of a ticket Creating counterfeit tickets with forged barcodes and logos of real ticket companies Selling duplicates of a legitimate ticket and emailing it to several buyers Pretending to sell tickets online to steal your credit card information Report Ticket Scams There are several options to report a ticket scam. Contact your state consumer protection office. Contact the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) using the Online Complaint Assistant. File a local police report, especially if you met the scammer in person or have a picture of them to give the police. Report it using the Better Business Bureau’s Scam Tracker. If you paid by credit card, report the problem to the card company. You may be able to dispute the charge. How to Protect Yourself Learn what you can do to avoid becoming a victim: Do Buy tickets at the venue box office. Buy tickets from authorized brokers and third party sellers, with verified contact information. Look for red flags in the ticket offer. If the offer has imperfect English or unusual phrases, the offer could be a scam.  Verify that the seller has a real physical addresses and phone numbers. Scammers often post fake addresses, PO Box, or no address on their websites. Check the actual web address of the resale ticket seller. Some scammers create phony websites that look like real ticket sellers' websites. Search online for negative reviews about the seller. Use the seller’s name, email address, and phone number, along with the words “fraud,” “scams,” and “fake tickets”. Verify the details on the ticket. Check the date and the time printed on the tickets. Make sure the section and seat numbers actually exist at the venue. Have the seller meet you in person in a public place for the ticket exchange. Ask the seller for proof that they bought the tickets, if you are buying from an individual. Use a credit card to pay third party sellers. Your credit card offers protections, if you need to dispute a charge. Check for complaints against a ticket seller with your state’s consumer protection agency. Don’t Don’t wire transfer money to pay for tickets.   Don’t trust sellers who want you to pay with a prepaid money card. Don’t meet an individual ticket seller alone or in a low-traffic area. Don’t automatically trust online search results for ticket sellers. Search results can include paid ads, sellers that charge high fees, and scams.