CINCINNATI — As Taylor Swift prepares to hit the stage here in Ohio, fans from all over are trying to snag last minute tickets. Unfortunately, many fans are faced with the risk of tickets they find not being legit. Regardless, there are some available tickets out there, if you’re willing to pay big time.
Sophia Perricone is one of the lucky fans who was able to score last minute tickets a few weeks back to see Taylor Swift in New Jersey. After searching for weeks she decided to take the risk three hours before the concert on a re-sale site.
“I woke up super early and just started refreshing my computer pages! At first I was like oh my god my boyfriend is going to break up with me because I made him get me these Taylor Swift tickets and we only got one ticket! We're getting scammed! But then the second ticket came through which was a huge relief” said Perricone.
The tickets Perricone got, while expensive, were legitimate and she was able to go to the concert. But Taylor Swift fan Samantha Platek didn't get so lucky and spent nearly $500 for tickets that didn't exist.
“A friend of mine was a member of a Facebook group, and several people had been posting in the group that they were selling Taylor Swift tickets,” said Platek.
She purchased her tickets from someone on Facebook who checked out to be a real University of Cincinnati professor with a real Facebook account. Unfortunately that account was recently hacked and Sam was chatting with a scammer.
“Had I known that his account had actually been hacked by the scammer, and that I wasn't actually conversing with him and there were a lot of red flags” said Platek.
The difference between Perricone and Platek are Perricone bought her tickets from a resale website that she said ensured 100% buyer guarantee. Experts at the BBB say they've seen a number of Swifties who "Should’ve Said No” to tickets specifically sold on social media. They also recommend not paying anyone through Venmo, Paypal or Zelle, as these peer to peer payment systems with no protection for your money.
“This is for you and your friends, personal people that you know, and the money is treated like cash. Once you've paid it” said Leeanne Lanigan of central Ohio.
Any tickets you buy should have a block, row and seat number on them. And if you're planning to buy tickets off a re-sale site do not communicate with sellers outside of that specific platform.
If you're planning to just show up outside Paycor stadium and try and buy tickets in person, don't buy any paper tickets as all tickets for this concert are electronic ones that transfer into your phone's digital wallet.