With five Iowa teams in this year’s big dance, college basketball fans who still hope to buy NCAA tournament tickets could be at a higher risk for scams.
Josh Planos, at the Better Business Bureau, says March Madness is a prime time for ticket rip-offs, though he notes it’s always a problem for concert goers.
“We do see ticket scams throughout the year, many dozens of reports over the course of a year just within our service area,” Planos says, “but we do know that a lot of these scam reports sadly go quiet.”
If you plan to buy basketball tourney tickets, use a reputable ticketing site and pay with a credit card, as Planos says plastic is preferred over popular payment apps.
“It’s not to say that those payment methods aren’t effective or useful,” Planos says, “but you really don’t have the same protections that you do with a credit card.”
Other tips include: Buy from a trusted source, don’t fall for high-pressure sales tactics, and know what a realistic cost should be — because if the seller is offering a bargain, it’s likely a scam. Planos says do -not- use social media to buy tickets.
“That’s a gamble,” he says. “It doesn’t mean that folks don’t have success with that all the time for any number of products, but it really is challenging to know who it is that you’re communicating with.”
In the men’s games tomorrow, Iowa State University plays in St. Louis against Tennessee State, the University of Iowa meets Clemson in Tampa, while UNI faces St. John’s in San Diego.
In women’s hoops on Saturday, Iowa will host Fairleigh Dickinson in Iowa City, and Iowa State plays Syracuse in Storrs, Connecticut.
