Scamming the Elderly Online

Tricksters and hacks are everywhere online and in particular, they are at the forefront of scamming the elderly online. Are you paying attention to the sites you are on and do you trust that the place you are buying from is reputable and official? Most people are not paying attention and just trust a few first listings in search results assuming they are the correct place to buy tickets, goods and services and more. More likely those first few results are propped up there high in rankings artificially so that they appear to be legit – but they are not in fact the place you want to be.

Event Tickets

The easiest thing to do is for these fake sites to “appear” legitimate. They look like Ticketmaster and Stub Hub, but they are not. It might be a site called bestticketsforyourevent(d0t)com (fake site I just made up). I had friends spend lots of money thinking they had purchased real tickets to fun events only to find out these are resellers and the only way you get a ticket is if someone cancels a few days before a show. My friend asked me to “find” her tickets that were supposedly sent to her email but the company does not send out tickets until 3 days before an event because they have not purchased them yet! What they showed you was a fake seating area just to get you to use your credit card. Their fees cannot be refunded. You’d be lucky to get anything refunded!

Be careful how you Search

When trying to purchase tickets to a local show it’s important to go directly to the theater box office and purchase from their site. If you are just doing searches on Google, you will be shown sites at the top of search results that are not even associated with the venue. They might be sites with a base in Pakistan, Russia or India and they are intent on deceiving you at every turn. You are NOT talking to box office staff. They are most likely not even in the USA. By making it appear they HAVE the tickets you are sucked into their site thinking – yay! I’m going to surprise my spouse, friend, relative with tickets to their favorite artist. Part of retirement is to find a purpose and that might mean more entertainment! When it slowly appears you made a big mistake – folks are not likely to ask for help because they are embarrassed they were bamboozled. This is all part of the big plan of these types of sites. They like scamming the elderly because it’s profitable. Look at the small, tiny “warnings” on this particular site:

In trying to actually find the tickets the purchaser calls a friend to help them find the tickets because they have no idea how they were supposed to be delivered. It is not found in their email. Sadly phone calls go nowhere as these groups have no phone support.

They have your credit card though, eh?

Steps to take so you Don’t Get Scammed

1. Call the Box Office Directly. Find out what their direct phone number is and call during working hours. Purchase tickets with the box office directly or get their direct website address and put that into your top url area as they give you the address (no searching).
2. Make sure the site is a secure site using https status in the website url.
3. Protect yourself by using a credit card with very little availability on it. Do not use your every day bill paying credit card. Use a card that has barely that exact amount on it. This way you are protected.
4. If you are using someone else’s card and you do not have access to their email, the tickets will most likely be sent to the email address associated with that credit card. Sadly, someone I know used their dead husband’s credit card and the tickets went to his email account which she had no access too. You see the problem? Only use your credit card associated with email addresses that you have easy access to.
5. Be sure you are only buying tickets directly from the venue, not a third party. There is no obligation to get anything right with a third party. They do not care. They just want your credit card information. You’d be lucky to get your money back. You most likely are dealing with a third party operating from outside the USA so our laws do not mean anything. Pay attention to that last sentence.
6. Bring a print out of the tickets if possible. Many times you will not be able to log onto any app as there are too many people trying to log on at the same time and it never works. Have proof of your payment and be prepared to show it.

It’s Not Just Elderly People Getting Scammed

When I use the word “elderly” many people think of a grey haired lady with a perplexed look on her face holding a cell phone with a vacant look. Think again. Many people who are not used to buying event or theater tickets on a regular basis think they can do it – it’s easy – you just order the tickets and bingo you are in the theater! No, sadly, you will most likely be scammed.

And why?

We tend to have an overly exhaustive need to “search” everything even if we already know the url of the place we are heading online. It’s easier than typing, right? Wrong. This is where most people get taken. You make an assumption that the top search listing result is the one that will get you the tickets. No, sadly the top listing is the one that will scam you very badly.

It’s designed to come up first in your search solutions and appears to be correct but it is not. There is literally no online police to stop this from occurring.

You have to be smart enough to know you are in the wrong place and providing your credit card number and personal information to a fraudulent source. They are not your friends. If you call them they will say yes to many things and be very polite and the next thing you know they tell you bookings are going fast and you should purchase now over the phone. Watch out! Red Flag!

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[AI was not used in this article. All references, odd grammar and lovely bits are all from me, Jan R especially the NYPD Blues reference]