Playoff tickets across the country have been in high demand, but if you’re looking for a bargain, better beware of possible scammers looking to take advantage.
Mike Michea doled hundreds of dollars to attend Game 6 of the Toronto Maple Leafs-Washington Capitals first-round playoff series, which is being held at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto on Sunday.
But he came out empty-handed.
Michea told CTV Toronto when he saw an ad on classifieds website Kijiji that purported to sell gold section centre-ice seats for Game 6, he couldn’t resist.
“Like every other die-hard fan, I was just trying to get in the building for that game,” Michea said.
After texting back and forth with the seller, Michea sent him $800 in exchange for the two playoff tickets.
“We did an email transfer, he received my money, told me to log on to my Ticketmaster account so we could exchange the tickets,” Michea said.
But the tickets never arrived, and Michea said that the seats he thought he was paying for were still for sale on Tickemaster as of Saturday.
Police say this sort of scam is a common one around playoff season. They advise people to be very careful with how they pay for tickets.
“If you can be in a situation where someone can pay by credit card, there is some protection that you are afforded by using your credit card,” said Toronto Const. Craig Brister.
Officials add if sports fans want to get tickets from a website like Kijiji or Craigslist, make sure you meet in person in a safe place and try to ensure the authenticity of your ticket.
Repeated attempts by Michea to contact the seller went unanswered, and his calls were soon blocked.
CTV Toronto also reached out to the seller and got through to a voicemail with no name attached to it.
OPP and other local authorities are now investigating.
Michea wants to spread the word in order to make sure no one else gets duped.
“If you’re trying to save up money to go to something, you’re going to be let down if you do it the way I did it,” Michea said. “Because I’m thoroughly disappointed that I’m going to be watching the game from home.”
With a report by CTV Toronto’s Jamie Maraucher
