The best defense for fans of Utah football teams looking to score bowl tickets
Dec 6, 2021, 6:15 PM | Updated: Feb 14, 2023, 12:23 pm
SALT LAKE CITY — Between the Utes, Aggies and Cougars, there are thousands of football fans in Utah looking for bowl game tickets. Fans desperate to see their favorite team will shell out top dollar, and the scammers are counting on that.
“Desperation is the number one risk factor for getting scammed,” said Britta Clark of the Better Business Bureau of Utah. “You are in a position where you want something so badly that you’re willing to ignore a bunch of red flags. And, of course, that’s not something that you would normally ignore during other times of the year – maybe when you’re feeling a little bit less pressure, a little less desperation.”
Clark said the best way to protect yourself is to buy directly from the venue. If that venue’s box office is sold out, then the BBB advises only doing business on a reputable third-party ticket broker, like StubHub or Ticketmaster. Review the broker’s policy for customer satisfaction and what happens if the tickets you bought them through turn out to be no good.
If you do end up buying from an individual seller, through social media or some other platform, you should know the only way to really verify the tickets are good is to actually meet the seller at the ticket office.
“So that you could have the venue look at them and make sure that they’re legitimate, if that is something that you’re really considering,” Clark said.
That is, of course, easier said than done when it comes to the bowl games which are all out of state.
The bottom line is scammers will flood the market with pretend tickets like they always do.
Football fans need to be on their guard.
