Customers Duped with Counterfeit Tickets

Every year Doug McCormick and his family travel 900 miles from Montana to the Metrodome just to watch the Vikings play Green Bay. But this Monday, the annual trip turned sour. “My grandkids are age 4 and 7, they’re faces were all painted and ready for the game. It was pretty devastating to them,” says McCormick.

Four members of the McCormick family did not buy tickets ahead of time, and instead waited until they got close to the Dome. They purchased four tickets for $1,000 from a scalper, but when they got tried to enter the Dome they learned the tickets were fake. “These were regular cardboard tickets, they said ticket master on them. The security guard who worked in the office said they were really good ones,” said McCormick. The family ended up watching the Vikings win from their downtown Minneapolis hotel room.

“Once they leave that seller on the street there is not much they can do,” says Sgt. Jesse Garcia with the Minneapolis Police. Garcia says they’ve received several reports from both Twins and Vikings fans this week that unknowingly purchased counterfeit tickets from scalpers. Police urge fans to be careful buying tickets off the street, especially e-tickets printed on plain pieces of paper. “The owner of the e-ticket buys one copy and makes 10 copies and sells the others,” says Garcia.

Kevin Smith, spokesperson for the Twins, cautions fans e-tickets will not get them into any Twins games until next season. He adds the only way to know an e-ticket or regular ticket is legit is to purchase it from a ticket counter not scalper. “Who would do this to people? That’s the most irritating thing is what despicable person would take advantage of a family for $1,000 who are trying to come and have a nice day at a sporting event. I don’t know how they sleep at night,” says Smith.

Scalping tickets is legal in Minnesota, and Police say the majority of the time scalpers stay off Metrodome property and provide good tickets to fans. But there have been multiple examples of why buyers on the street should beware.