LONG ISLAND, N.Y. (WKBW) — Those hoping to go to the game may be shelling out a pretty penny.
Tickets are running well over $100 a seat, on Ticketmaster. This is just one of the places to get a verified resale tickets for the game.
Experts shared it is always best to buy tickets from a verified seller.
7 News' Pheben Kassahun spoke with one mother, Friday evening, who said their plans to go to the game are now in limbo, after they paid $1,600 for tickets only to find out: it was a scam.
Long Island mom of six, Kerry Weisse, was searching high and low for Bills playoff tickets for the whole family.
"We're in one of the Bills groups and we put in there, 'Hey, anybody have 8 tickets as far as sitting all together," Weisse said.
Almost giving up hope on snagging tickets to the highly anticipated game.
Weisse said, "There was a bunch of people that said they had two and four. We were trying to see if the four and four would match up. It didn't and all of a sudden this guy was like, 'Hey, me and my brother have eight tickets'. I was like perfect!"
On Tuesday, after a few chats via Facebook, Weisse sent $1,600 for the eight tickets, via payment app "Zelle."
Weisse said, "He said, 'Can you do Zelle?' I said sure. I said, 'Can you include the parking pass?' because they wanted $200 a ticket. I was like sure. Include the parking pass."
Wary of sending money to people she does not know, she hoped his account was the real deal.
However, she said once she sent it, he told her he never got it. Instead, began asking for more money.
"I was like, 'Listen, bud. I am not giving you any more money'," she explained.
She called the man via Facebook but met with a dead end after he hung up on her.
So instead of eight tickets to a playoff game, Weisse was left empty-handed and out $1,600 and her plans of going to a Bills game for the first time as a family were ruined.
"Buffalo is - everybody loves each other. There is no scamming there. People invite you to their homes and everything. It's wonderful up there," Weisse said.
She said it is a lesson learned, and experts spoke to say need to be extremely wary of using payment apps, to buy things like tickets to major events.
The family still plans to come to Buffalo, since they already booked a hotel for the whole family. They do plan to take part in the tailgating experience as well.
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Better Business Bureau Upstate New York communications director, Matt Krueger said, "You don't want to use a CashApp or a debit card. The reason for that is if there is an added surcharge to the price, or if you're paying more than you're not supposed to or if you have fallen victim to a scam, your credit card company is going to help you mitigate that process and get your money back. Those same protections aren't available if you use a debit card or a CashApp."
Krueger said to protect yourself:
- Avoid pop-up adds on sites saying they offer tickets at a discounted price
- Know exactly who you're ordering from
- Sticking with trusted and verified vendors and businesses will be your best bet to keep bad actors away from your money
