Mother of disabled WWE fan taken in ticket scam
By Greg Collier
A woman from Clarksville, Tennessee, has a wheelchair-bound son who is said to be a superfan of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). When she found out that the WWE was holding its SummerSlam card in nearby Nashville, she wanted nothing more than to get tickets for her son.
She Googled the number to event vendor Ticketmaster, and called the number listed. She expressed that her son would need special seating. The representative gave her a ticket price of $25 each and instructed her to go to her local supermarket. The representative stayed on the phone with her while she went to the supermarket. Since the store did not have a Ticketmaster counter, she was instructed to buy $250 worth of eBay gift cards.
The woman gave the card numbers to the representative, and the rep claimed that the card numbers were no good. They then told the woman she needs to go to a Walgreens to buy more gift cards. This is when she realized she had been scammed.
This story does have a happy ending. Current WWE Superstar Cody Rhodes, son of pro wrestling legend Dusty Rhodes, has offered to help the woman and her son get something set up with the WWE.
However, most scam stories like this do not have a happy ending, but there are ways to protect yourself when buying tickets to not just the WWE, but any kind of live event. The first thing is that if you’re going to call any kind of ticket vendor, do not use the first phone number listed on Google or any other search engine. Scammers often buy their way to the top of search engine rankings to get their phony customer service numbers listed first. Instead, go to the vendor’s website and get their number from the ‘Contact Us’ section.
Customer service reps are some of the most overworked people in the country. Sometimes they have to juggle multiple customers at once. They do not have time to sit with a customer on the phone for extended periods of time while they go to a store. Scammers will keep you on the phone to prevent the scam from falling apart.
Lastly, no legitimate business or agency will ever ask you to pay in gift cards. Gift cards should only be used as gifts. Scammers love them because gift cards are easy to deplete and once they are, they’re untraceable.
Video: Local mother warns others after falling victim to a gift card scam
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