While the tournament brings excitement and opportunity for fans, the hype also creates an opening for scammers trying to cash in on the demand for tickets.<\/p>\n
TAMPA, Fla. \u2014 In just two weeks, March Madness will return to Tampa for the first time since 2011.<\/p>\n
While the NCAA tournament brings excitement and opportunity for fans hoping to see their teams advance, the hype also creates an opening for scammers trying to cash in on the demand for tickets.<\/p>\n
The Better Business Bureau (BBB) is warning fans to be cautious as they search for seats to games at Benchmark International Arena.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnytime there’s a hype in the marketplace, scammers will always use that as an opportunity to take advantage of consumers,\u201d said Bryan Oglesby, director of public relations and outreach for BBB West Florida.<\/p>\n
According to the Federal Trade Commission, there were more than 21,000 reports of business imposters in Florida last year, resulting in more than $62 million in losses.<\/p>\n
Oglesby says those scams often target people trying to buy event tickets.<\/p>\n
\u201cTheir goal is either to take your money or steal your identity,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He says scammers are becoming more sophisticated, especially with new technology.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith the use of new technology, AI, scammers are getting better at their game. They’re impostering legitimate companies, coming off social media sites pretending to be a legit company,\u201d Oglesby said.<\/p>\n
With thousands of fans expected to pack the arena when the tournament tips off, the BBB recommends taking several precautions before purchasing tickets.<\/p>\n
First, stick to well-known ticket platforms such as Ticketmaster, StubHub or SeatGeek, or buy directly from the venue when possible.<\/p>\n
Second, avoid unusual payment methods like Zelle, CashApp or Venmo. Experts say using a credit card provides additional protection if something goes wrong with the purchase.<\/p>\n
And third, be wary of ticket sales through social media, where there may be no guarantees or ticket insurance if the deal turns out to be fraudulent.\u00a0<\/p>\n
If you believe you\u2019ve been the victim of a ticket scam, officials say you should contact your bank or credit card company immediately, report the incident to local law enforcement and file a complaint through the Better Business Bureau\u2019s Scam Tracker.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"While the tournament brings excitement and opportunity for fans, the hype also creates an opening for scammers trying…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":180032,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[135,137,136],"class_list":["post-180031","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180031","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=180031"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180031\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/180032"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=180031"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=180031"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=180031"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}