About the author: Ben Farrow is a partner at Anderson, Williams, & Farrow, LLC, a LegalShield provider firm.
Most of the people who will get scammed buying World Cup tickets this summer do not know it yet. Some are shopping right now.
Every time a major sporting event comes around, I start getting the same calls. Someone bought tickets through a resale site. The seller never had them. Or they showed up at the gate and the verified ticket got rejected. Or the VIP access they paid extra for did not exist. And then, almost without fail, they say: "I know it probably sounds dumb that I fell for it."
It does not sound dumb. It sounds exactly like what happens when excitement overrides caution, which is precisely what scammers count on.
With matches running across 11 U.S. cities from June 11 through July 19, the conditions for ticketing fraud are about as ripe as I have seen. Here is what to know before you buy.
According to LegalShield data, 35% of consumers have experienced grievances tied to event tickets. One in three. Here is what those complaints actually look like:
AI and photo manipulation tools are making fake tickets harder to spot than ever. A fraudulent QR code can look completely legitimate on your phone, and that same code can be sold to dozens of people at once. I have watched this get more convincing every year.
Most people assume the fine print ended their options. It usually did not. And this is the part I wish people knew before they gave up.
Feeling stupid is a scammer's best friend. The people I talk to after something goes wrong almost always knew something felt off. They just talked themselves out of paying attention because they were excited, or busy, or both.
Pay attention to the boring parts. Read the guarantee. Check the transfer. Use the credit card. That is how you keep your money and your seat.
And if something already went wrong: you do not need a perfect story to call us. You just need to say what happened.
Written and maintained by the LegalShield content team, covering legal and identity protection topics for individuals, families, and small businesses.
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