Oklahoma City Father Warns Of Thunder Ticket Scam

A scammer claimed his latest victim during game two of the series against the Mavericks. Ty wanted to take his 8-year-old son Taylor to his first Thunder game for his birthday.

Monday, May 7th 2012, 7:20 pm

By: News 9


The warnings have been announced over and over about ticket scams during the Thunder playoff games. The team even released a warning to fans telling the only way to be sure their tickets are authentic is to buy them through the official Thunder ticket sales website.

4/29/2012 Related Story: Looking For Thunder Tickets, Beware Of Scams

They can be seen outside virtually every home game at Chesapeake Energy Arena, ticket brokers and scalpers who try to sell extra tickets just before tip-off.

A scammer claimed his latest victim during game two of the series against the Mavericks. Ty wanted to take his 8-year-old son Taylor to his first Thunder game for his birthday.

"I've bought tickets before from guys out there on the streets," explained Ty. "This time it was different. They were the tickets when you buy online, they print off."

Ty's son, a huge Thunder fan, was all ready to watch his first game, but when the two walked up to the gates, they were denied entry.

"We get to the door and you know, the lady goes to scan our ticket and she says, ‘These are no good. They're pretty much trash,'" Ty said.

The two stood in disbelief as thousands of Thunder fans walked into the arena. Taylor's birthday was ruined, and Ty was out $100 in cash.

"He's just like, ‘Daddy can we just talk to somebody? Can you go get the booth?'" explained Ty. "He loves Kevin Durant, dying to go, I mean we get there to the door at the arena, it's going on live and I mean we just, he was just heartbroken. He cried the entire way home."

Ty said he actually saw a News 9 report a couple weeks ago about ticket scams outside the Thunder playoff games, but said he still took a chance.

"I went right ahead in stubbornly and got burned," he said.

Now with the sweep of the Mavericks, fans can bet the scams will continue during round two of the playoffs.

Ticket broker Mike Chandler emailed News 9 once he heard about the story.

"It's very difficult in the playoffs to recognize a counterfeit ticket. Since the games are announced and put on sale with such short notice, 99% of the tickets are the ‘ticketfast' print-out variety. Since they are printed at home on plain standard copy paper, there is really nothing to stop someone from making 100 copies of the same ticket. The people doing this are obviously not brokers who stand on the same corner and see the same people day in and day out. The best way for someone to protect themselves when buying on the secondary market is to go to a LOCAL professional, someone who will show them ID if asked, hand them a business card, and someone from the area. This is the exact reason I pressed so fervently for the new ordinance to contain some sort of licensing measure, something that would require on-site brokers to register with the city and carry a permit that could be referenced by any customer should there be an issue with their tickets."

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