Caveat emptor: Warnings and scams!

[-jk]

Obviously, this thread is meant to be a caution. We at DBR cannot police private transactions between members, most of whom are anonymous. Use the DBR PM system for the most protection - it keeps the casual scammers away. Don't use phone numbers or email.

Please read through this for some of the things to look out for, and add anything you learn.

Caveat emptor!

-jk

[Kimist]

Assuming you are an Iron Dukes member and sometimes have basketball tickets available for sale, I would be very careful about posting online any specifics about seat locations. I've known the Iron Dukes office to come down hard on people who violate their (ridiculous?) policy prohibiting ANY resale of Duke basketball tickets. In theory they can void (and resell?) your own tickets for all of the remaining season games and also prohibit you from consideration of obtaining any NCAA tickets through the university.

Another scenario is that a fan of the opposing team could eventually get your seats, make an a** of himself (think unc or md) at the game, and another nearby Iron Dukes member then reports the problem. A friend in the high rent section of Cameron has done so for some vociferous foreign fans, with the comment "I know everyone who has seats near me!"

At a recent home football game, I saw the campus cops almost arrest an older gentleman for attempting to sell his $40 football tickets for $10 each. He was a bit irate and said something to them like "where are you guys when someone is here scalping basketball tickets for $500 each?!?"

I thought he had a valid point!

Oh well....

k

[brianl]

On what charge would the gentleman been arrested? I don't believe it's illegal to sell a ticket for less than face value in NC.

I know the Season Tickets are sold at a reduced rate, but those days are numbered anyway.

The days of the $200 family season pass are drawing to a close folks.

Thanks Cut. Looking forward to it. Bring back the reserved seating in sections 14-19

[allenmurray]

The days of the $200 family season pass are drawing to a close folks.

Thanks Cut. Looking forward to it. Bring back the reserved seating in sections 14-19

I've had one of those $200 family passes for seven years. The football is much, much better now, but the place is still usually only 2/3 full AT BEST. I think we'll still see the family plan for a while.

[Kimist]

On what charge would the gentleman been arrested? I don't believe it's illegal to sell a ticket for less than face value in NC.

As best I can tell, the campus cops were "enforcing" the University prohibition against unauthorized sale of tickets. "This ticket may not be sold, except by authorized personnel" appears on the backs of both the football and basketball tickets. Scalping, or the lack thereof, was apparently not an issue to the police.

It's probably of the same mindset that states prohibited items in Wallace Wade Stadium include "items obstructing sightlines for other fans" but golf umbrellas are obviously OK!! And then there's "for the courtesy and safety of all fans we ask that umbrellas are not raised while you are in the seating bowl." Go figure...

k

[ehanly]

Just wanted to let would-be ticket-buyers know that there's a guy reading these posts who called my cell phone posing as "the son of a recently deceased, long-time Duke Basketball season ticket holder" who tried to sell me tickets at face value for the 6 games I am looking for (radford, clemson, wake forest, maryland, virg tech, & carolina). He's got this great scam going where he tells people he's got these great tickets that he can't use (told my wife that his wife was pregnant with twins, so he couldn't go to the games). He tells you he's going to fedex the tickets & has you go to a western union station to wire money. Fortunately, I googled the Florida phone number he gave me (305-672-9328) just in time and uncovered countless stories from people he's successfully scammed. He told me that his name was Mich Cohen, but he's used many other names.

If there's a legit season ticket-holder out there who can't use all their seats for any of the above games that would be willing to put their tickets in the hands of new-to-the-area true Duke fans, please contact me.

Thanks,
Eric Hanly
eric.hanly@duke.edu

[killerleft]

On what charge would the gentleman been arrested? I don't believe it's illegal to sell a ticket for less than face value in NC.

I know the Season Tickets are sold at a reduced rate, but those days are numbered anyway.

The days of the $200 family season pass are drawing to a close folks.

Thanks Cut. Looking forward to it. Bring back the reserved seating in sections 14-19

I agree with allenmurray on this. I think brianl would be very surprised at the number of family ticket holders who sit elsewhere in much better seats at Wally Wade. Duke will have to do a delicate balancing act regarding the raising of family season ticket prices, much less phasing them out.

Durham and surrounding communities will always be depended upon to help fill the stadium. UNC and State fans command the dollars of most of the folks who can afford ticket prices at $40.00 per game and above.

So, ironically, a school always associated with high-dollar education and alumni is dependent on the increasingly mis-named "blue-collar" fans to fill Wallace Wade. And this has always been true.

[Bluedog]

I think a good rule of thumb is if somebody asks you to use Western Union to wire them the money, then they are generally up to no good.

[DU82]

On what charge would the gentleman been arrested? I don't believe it's illegal to sell a ticket for less than face value in NC.

Not illegal on public grounds, but Duke is private, so they can impose their own rules on their property.

Since NC has allowed online "scalping" at any price (as long as the State gets their cut in taxes) I have problems with any restrictions regarding ticket resales. OF course, I have problems with any restrictions for public venues anyway. Most tickets are resold below the listed ticket value. (I can understand restricting locations, so that ticket transactions do not obstruct entrances, etc.)

[Kimist]

Not illegal on public grounds, but Duke is private, so they can impose their own rules on their property.

Since NC has allowed online "scalping" at any price (as long as the State gets their cut in taxes) I have problems with any restrictions regarding ticket resales. OF course, I have problems with any restrictions for public venues anyway. Most tickets are resold below the listed ticket value. (I can understand restricting locations, so that ticket transactions do not obstruct entrances, etc.)

While I see your point, I think the rules put in place ( see page 2 of https://admin.xosn.com/attachments1/...DB_OEM_ID=5100 ) prohibit any ticket resale, regardless of "where" such a sale occurred.

It is my understanding that basketball tickets in the past have been voided by the Iron Dukes for unauthorized resale that occurred online. Some "neighbors" in Cameron were a bit irate over whoever ended up in the original owner's seats (tickets were advertised/sold at a high price online) and they let the administration know about it!

The lawyers out there can discuss whether the tacit agreement made when season tickets are purchased can actually hold water. My personal guess is, if push comes to shove, the answer is "yes." I have no idea what happens if a visitor who paid $1k for a ticket shows up and is told his ticket is void.

k

[Acymetric]

Does anyone know of any situations where the Iron Dukes actually voided someone's tickets for selling online? I know they say they will...but do they?

[Azdukefan]

I didn't know where to put this but figured it was worth a read for anyone looking to scalp tickets from ebay or craigslist. JJ/Shel senior year I was doing everything that I could to get ahold of some Duke/UNC tickets. I barely lost an auction on ebay and then got an email saying that the person that won the auction didn't come through so I could purchase the tickets. The only thing I had to do was Western Union money to person X. Being naive and excited, I did exactly that. Needless to say, I lost $2000 and never got to go to the game.

This year I found a reputable seller on Craigslist and finally did get some seats to UNC at Duke. Moral of the story....never Western Union someone money for an online auction or purchase.

[DevilWolf]

I didn't know where to put this but figured it was worth a read for anyone looking to scalp tickets from ebay or craigslist. JJ/Shel senior year I was doing everything that I could to get ahold of some Duke/UNC tickets. I barely lost an auction on ebay and then got an email saying that the person that won the auction didn't come through so I could purchase the tickets. The only thing I had to do was Western Union money to person X. Being naive and excited, I did exactly that. Needless to say, I lost $2000 and never got to go to the game.

This year I found a reputable seller on Craigslist and finally did get some seats to UNC at Duke. Moral of the story....never Western Union someone money for an online auction or purchase.

I hate that you lost two grand. Both because I feel bad for you, but also because I had some really good jokes about the UNC losing his money on a scam that I can't use now out of respect to a fellow DBR poster.

[hurleyfor3]

1. Never, EVER use Western Union to send money to recipients you don't personally know
2. Never agree to buy something from an Ebay seller who tells you the original buyer reneged, because the transaction now takes place outside of Ebay and thus you do not enjoy Ebay's protections (thin as they are)

[bl33dblu3]

similar thing happened to me off craig's list. he had good story, just expensive enough to seem legit. lost $600 trying to see Duke in the ACC tourney 2 years ago. Good thing I didn't miss much.

[wgl1228]

I think I have been scammed but its too early to tell so I will withhold information until a few more days go by. Anyway, I had made a post on this board wanting some acc tourney tickets. I got 2 e-mails from people and chose one of them. He e-mailed me and I emailed him back my number. He called and we discussed all of the information. He was very knowledgable about Duke and said his father taught at Duke for years until his death and thats how he got the tickets. We had a polite conversation and he told me what he did for a living and discussed Duke's prospects for the rest of this year. He said he had 6 tickets but 4 had been sold on he was currently ging to Fed Ex to ship them. After much discussion I told him I would buy them and he charged me $770 for 2 acc tourney books. I knew that was close to face so I went to a local grocery store and sent the money western union instant transfer. He gave me the details about the package and I could even hear him talking to the Fed-Ex lady. He said they would be here on Friday (yesterday). He told me that Fed Ex would ask me a question about what was in the package before the transaction took place as well. Anyway, the package did not come yesterday and the tracking number he gave does not seem to be correct. (I may have written it down wrong but I doubt it.) He gave me his address and phone number as well. I have called numerous times and sent a couple of emails but recieved no response yesterday. I hope there is no issue and they will come today but I feel sick about it. Those who know about the law is there anything I can do if this does not pan out and if so who would I get in touch with. I am hoping this is a nonissue but I will report the information of this person on this site in a few days if I hear nothing.

[Indoor66]

I think I have been scammed but its too early to tell so I will withhold information until a few more days go by. Anyway, I had made a post on this board wanting some acc tourney tickets. I got 2 e-mails from people and chose one of them. He e-mailed me and I emailed him back my number. He called and we discussed all of the information. He was very knowledgable about Duke and said his father taught at Duke for years until his death and thats how he got the tickets. We had a polite conversation and he told me what he did for a living and discussed Duke's prospects for the rest of this year. He said he had 6 tickets but 4 had been sold on he was currently ging to Fed Ex to ship them. After much discussion I told him I would buy them and he charged me $770 for 2 acc tourney books. I knew that was close to face so I went to a local grocery store and sent the money western union instant transfer. He gave me the details about the package and I could even hear him talking to the Fed-Ex lady. He said they would be here on Friday (yesterday). He told me that Fed Ex would ask me a question about what was in the package before the transaction took place as well. Anyway, the package did not come yesterday and the tracking number he gave does not seem to be correct. (I may have written it down wrong but I doubt it.) He gave me his address and phone number as well. I have called numerous times and sent a couple of emails but recieved no response yesterday. I hope there is no issue and they will come today but I feel sick about it. Those who know about the law is there anything I can do if this does not pan out and if so who would I get in touch with. I am hoping this is a nonissue but I will report the information of this person on this site in a few days if I hear nothing.

Kiss your money goodbye!

[-jk]

Ouch. I never use Western Union to send money to someone I don't know. Credit cards/paypal come with dispute resolution options.

-jk

[Devil in the Blue Dress]

Should the tickets not be delivered...

You mentioned that you made contact through this board. The site administrators might be able to assist you with additional information regarding this individual, information which could be useful in any sort of action to try to retrieve your money.

In addition, I'm sure the administrators would want to be informed regarding anyone who has used this board to scam. (Grounds to ban perhaps?)

[wgl1228]

I got scammed I have a whole post about it below beware.