Watch above: concert goers burned by online ticket scam
SASKATOON – Since Credit Union Centre opened it’s doors in 1988, it’s hosted some of the world’s biggest names in the music industry, from Bon Jovi to Beyonce and most recently Blake Shelton.
The Shelton concert was one Penny Janzen and her sister almost didn’t have a chance to see.
“We got to the door and they scanned our tickets and the ‘X’ came up and then they scanned her ticket ‘X’ came up and then they scanned it again and then we just got sick to our stomachs because she told us we were the sixth set of tickets that night with the same seat,” said Janzen.
Janzen and her sister were among 20 fraudulent orders for online tickets to last Tuesday’s show.
“It’s an unusually high number for us, the concert of course was sold out, sold out immediately when the show went on sale but 20 orders is a large amount,” said Scott Ford, Credit Union Centre executive director.
“We’ve had two or three from Blake Shelton come across, we’ve started some investigations into one Kijiji account where tickets were sold, traced the money back to Alberta. We’re following up now with warrants on bank account numbers,” said Det. S/Sgt. Keith Briant, with Saskatoon Police Service economic crimes.
Briant says it’s a case they’ll continue to investigate.
“Once they advertise the tickets right after they can shut it down and wait for the next event or whatever to start selling some fake tickets again; again the first ticket that is bought might be a good ticket but the 30 other copies of that same ticket which showed up at the Blake Shelton concert are all bad tickets,” said Briant.
Despite shelling out an additional $236 to the $200 already spent to see Blake Shelton, Janzen says he was worth it.
“Had that not happened to us, it would have been the best concert ever,” she said.
After a record number of fraudulent tickets last week for Blake Shelton and with Bruno Mars coming this weekend and Katy Perry at the end of August, officials are warning the public of the potential for more concert scams.
Police encourage people who have been victims of this type of fraud to report it to them. Ticketmaster is the only authorized vendor for events held at Credit Union Centre, purchasing from them protects you from ticket fraud.
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