Public advisory, Event Ticket Fraud

Toronto Police Service News Release

Public advisory, Event Ticket Fraud

Wednesday, April 2, 2014 - 1:27 PM
Financial Crimes:   416-808-7300

With the Toronto Blue Jays' opening weekend, and the Toronto Raptors playoff appearance approaching, the Toronto Police Service would like to remind fans to be aware of the existence of fraudulent schemes involving event tickets.

Many fraudulent ticket schemes begin with ads, posted online, offering tickets for sale. The buyer contacts the person offering the tickets for sale and, upon settling on a price, the buyer is encouraged to send money electronically so the tickets can be sent. The buyer sends money, but the tickets never arrive.

The Toronto Police Service would also like to remind buyers of the existence of counterfeit tickets, often offered for sale on the street outside the venue.

Buyers are reminded that there is little recourse to recover cash paid on the street or over the internet in the secondary-ticket market. In order to mitigate risk, buyers are encouraged to:

- use ticket re-sale services which require proper registration of all parties

- use websites which offer dispute-resolution or payment-reversal in the event that the tickets provided were not as promised

- be wary of ads offering tickets for sold-out events for unusually low prices

- be wary of people requesting payment through money-transfer services (eg. Western Union, MoneyGram) or email money transfers

The safest option remains purchasing tickets directly from the original seller. Anyone purchasing tickets from a secondary source should be guided by the saying, "Let the buyer beware."

For more news, visit TPSnews.ca.

Constable Victor Kwong, Corporate Communications, for Detective Alan Spratt, Financial Crimes