KANSAS CITY, Mo. — When Mike Delong had four extra tickets to Thursday’s Pink concert at the Sprint Center, he decided to try and sell them online.
Not long after he posted, he received a text message from a potential "buyer."
“The person seemed very interested in the tickets, tried to negotiate,” he said.
Before the "buyer" would meet him in person, they asked Delong to send pictures of the tickets.
“Sorry just skeptical after being robbed once before for football tickets I was buying my boyfriend,” a text message read.
Delong sent the "buyer" a photo of a ticket without the barcode, which featured the section, row and seat number. He sent pictures of the other three as proof, as requested.
“It was a normal conversation,” Delong said—until he tried to meet the buyer.
“The minute I got it, I knew there was a problem,” said Delong.
The "buyer" had sent Delong a text message selling four tickets, which happened to be the exact ones Delong was trying to sell. The "buyer" even sent pictures of the tickets Delong had taken and sent before.
“This person was trying to sell my tickets back to me,” Delong said in shock. “I wasn't out of any money but someone was about to be.”
Anytime there’s a highly anticipated event, the Sprint Center said scams typically occur. One reason, they suggest never putting a picture of a ticket online.
“Technology is such that people can manipulate tickets in other ways,” said Shani Tate Ross, Vice President of marketing, communications and ticket sales at the Sprint Center.
Others suggest include using well-known websites like TicketMaster and StubHub to buy or sell because they offer guaranteed protection.
Delong spoke to police and the Sprint Center but still wanted to warn others.
“I’m worried someone is going to be scammed,” said Delong. “They're going to be out of money. They're either not going to get any tickets or I don't know how far this scam goes.”
