Tech fan out $500 after being scammed on Final Four tickets

LUBBOCK, TX (KCBD) - In just a few days thousands of Texas Tech basketball fans will be pouring into U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis for the biggest game in Red Raider program history.

But as always with big games, comes big scams.

Last year the Better Business Bureau said it received nearly 400 reports of ticket scams related to different events including sporting events. Now, Tech grads and fans Brady Giles and his wife from Oklahoma city are saying they fell victim to ticket fraud.

As soon as it was announced that Texas Tech made it to the final four, Giles knew he had to score himself and his wife some tickets to catch the big game, but it wasn’t as easy as he thought. “You get caught up in trying to find tickets and Stubhub didn't have the ones you wanted and neither did Ticketmaster so you go scrambling.”

He says ended up on Craigslist where he found an ad for a pair of final four tickets for $250 each. Being a tech grad and huge fan, he bought them. “I was bragging. We live in Oklahoma City so we were going to leave Friday night at midnight or 11 p.m. and drive up there so we could be up there for the game and experience the city.”

Giles says just as quickly as he bought those tickets, there were problems. He says the plan was for the seller to overnight the tickets to him on Monday night and for Giles to wire-transfer the money through a site that he admits he had never heard of before. Giles says he did his part, but the seller did not. “I called to verify with the seller and the phone was cut off. He seemed so trustworthy.”

Now Giles is out of $500 and a chance to see the Red Raiders play in Minneapolis. “It's heartbreaking not see your guys play.”

For tips from the Better Business Bureau on how to avoid getting scammed, click here.

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