{"id":195755,"date":"2026-03-18T01:56:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T01:56:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/195755\/"},"modified":"2026-03-18T01:56:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T01:56:07","slug":"march-madness-ticket-scams-on-the-rise-as-games-tip-off-in-tampa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/195755\/","title":{"rendered":"March Madness ticket scams on the rise as games tip off in Tampa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

TAMPA, Fla. – March Madness<\/a> basketball is back, with first and second round games tipping-off in Tampa.<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n

As fans rush to score last-minute tickets, there\u2019s a growing warning about scammers<\/a> attempting to cash in.<\/p>\n

What we know:<\/p>\n

On Friday and Sunday, a total of six NCAA Tournament<\/a> games will take place at Benchmark International Arena.<\/p>\n

READ: USF star Izaiyah Nelson more proud of team success than historic conference honors<\/a><\/p>\n

Ben Farrow is a provider attorney with LegalShield, a subscription-based service that connects consumers with attorneys for legal advice and services.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

He says scammers see major sporting events such as March Madness as an opportunity for fraud.<\/p>\n

What they’re saying:<\/p>\n

“Scammers go where money is,” Farrow said. “They know that sporting events are time-limited events.”<\/p>\n

As demand for tickets increases, so does the risks for buyers searching through resale platforms.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

Farrow says new technology is making scams even more convincing.<\/p>\n

“They can use AI<\/a> and other photo manipulation devices to make QR Codes get sold 100 times,” he said.<\/p>\n

Why you should care:<\/p>\n

The Better Business Bureau warns that many scams begin online, often through direct messages on social media.<\/p>\n

Bryan Oglesby is the director of public relations for the BBB serving West Florida.<\/p>\n

READ: USF’s heads basketball coach to lead team in front of dad with dementia for the first time<\/a><\/p>\n

“They want you to pay with a third-party app like Zelle or a gift card,” he said. “Alternative methods of payment are going to be big red flags.”<\/p>\n

Oglesby also adds that how you pay can determine whether you have protection if something goes wrong.<\/p>\n

“You want to pay with a credit card,” he said. “That way, you have protections in place should the purchase go wrong.”<\/p>\n

What you can do:<\/p>\n

When deals feel rushed or unusually cheap, it\u2019s best to double-check before buying. As Oglesby recommends buying directly from verified sellers tied to the venue.<\/p>\n

“If you go to the venue\u2019s trusted resellers or directly to the venue where they sell them, that\u2019ll be your best resource,” he concluded.<\/p>\n

The first game in Tampa tips off Friday at 12:15 p.m. at Benchmark International Arena, featuring No. 5 seed Texas Tech and No. 12 seed Akron.<\/p>\n

The Source: Information for this story came from statements from LegalShield, interviews with a civil trial lawyer and the Better Business Bureau.<\/p>\n

Sports<\/a>NCAA Mens Basketball Tournament<\/a>Crime and Public Safety<\/a>Artificial Intelligence<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TAMPA, Fla. – March Madness basketball is back, with first and second round games tipping-off in Tampa.\u00a0 As…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":195756,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[4038,630,11474,115,110,135,137,136,1576],"class_list":["post-195755","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-crime-publicsafety","tag-ncaa-tournament","tag-news","tag-sports","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195755","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=195755"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195755\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/195756"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=195755"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=195755"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=195755"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}