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    How to Avoid Ticket Scams

    Use a guaranteed marketplace, pay by card, skip social media sellers

    Ticket scams follow a pattern: a seller you cannot verify, a payment you cannot reverse and a deadline that rushes you. Break any one link and the scam fails.

    By the Good Seats editorial teamUpdated How we research

    The short version

    The surest way to avoid a ticket scam is to buy through a marketplace that guarantees the order, pay by credit card, and never buy from a stranger who contacts you on social media or asks for payment by app, wire, gift card or cryptocurrency. Nearly every ticket scam depends on at least one of those three weak points.

    Scammers target tickets because demand is emotional and time-limited. A sold-out show, a playoff game or a holiday performance creates exactly the pressure fraud depends on: buyers who feel they must act now and will accept a payment method they would normally refuse. The sections below cover the common schemes, the payment choices that protect you, and what to do if something goes wrong.

    The scams that catch fans most often

    • The social media seller. A post or direct message offers tickets to a sold-out event, often from a hacked or newly created account that appears to belong to a real person. The seller asks for payment through an app or gift card, then disappears.
    • The screenshot or PDF. The seller sends an image or file of a ticket. Even if it began as a real ticket, it may have been sold to several buyers, and only the first copy scanned will get in. Many venues now use mobile tickets that live inside a ticketing app, which is why an image alone is a warning sign.
    • The look-alike website. A site or search ad imitates a venue, team or box office. GAO's 2018 review of the ticket market found some resale websites misled consumers about their identity, in some cases resembling venue sites.
    • The speculative listing. A seller lists tickets they do not yet own, hoping to buy them later. This is not always deliberate fraud, but if the seller cannot get the tickets, you are left without them.
    • The fake transfer. An email or text that looks like a ticket transfer notice asks you to log in through a link, capturing your ticketing account password. Real transfers can be accepted from inside the ticketing app itself.

    What the fraud numbers show

    National fraud data does not isolate event tickets, but the closest categories show the scale. Consumers reported 12.5 billion dollars in fraud losses to the FTC's Consumer Sentinel Network in 2024. Online shopping ranked second among fraud categories, with 383,441 reports, 76 percent of them involving a loss. Frauds that began on social media accounted for 976 million dollars in reported losses, according to the FTC's 2024 Data Book.

    The Better Business Bureau's 2025 Scam Tracker data points the same way. Online purchase scams made up 28.4 percent of all scams published to BBB Scam Tracker and ranked third among the riskiest scam types, with 89.3 percent of reports including a monetary loss and a median loss of 68 dollars. Neither source breaks out tickets specifically, so treat these as context for how common online purchase fraud is, not as ticket-specific rates.

    Pay in a way you can reverse

    How you pay decides whether a scam costs you money. The FTC warns that scammers commonly insist on cryptocurrency, wire transfers through services such as Western Union or MoneyGram, payment apps, or gift cards, because those payments are hard or impossible to recover. A seller who will accept only those methods is the clearest warning sign in ticket buying.

    A credit card is the strongest option. Under the Fair Credit Billing Act, you can dispute charges for goods that were not delivered as agreed, and your dispute must reach the card issuer within 60 days after the first bill showing the error was sent. The issuer then has to acknowledge the dispute within 30 days and resolve it within 90. The FTC explains the process in its guide to disputing credit card charges. Debit cards and payment apps generally carry weaker protections, so check your provider's terms before relying on them.

    Check the site and the listing before you pay

    The site

    • Type the address yourself or use a bookmark rather than clicking a search ad or a link in a message.
    • Look for a real business: a clear company name, contact information, terms of sale and a written guarantee.
    • Expect the total price up front. Since May 12, 2025, the FTC's fee rule requires sellers of live-event tickets to show the total price, including mandatory fees, whenever they display a price. A low price that balloons at checkout is a red flag for compliance as well as honesty.

    The listing

    • A specific section and row, not just "great seats" or "lower level."
    • A stated delivery method and date. A delivery date shortly before the event is common when the primary seller delays transfers; no stated delivery method is not.
    • A price that makes sense. Seats to a sold-out event offered far below other listings are more likely bait than a bargain.

    After you buy: transfers and event day

    Accept a mobile transfer as soon as it arrives, and do it inside the ticketing company's app or site rather than through a link in a message. Confirm the tickets appear in your own account under the right event, date, section and row. Never share your ticketing account login with a seller or anyone offering to help with a transfer.

    On event day, arrive early enough to solve a problem at the box office if a ticket fails to scan, and keep your order confirmation handy. GoodSeats orders include guaranteed entry, so a ticket that does not get you in is covered. On any platform, contact customer service from the venue rather than after you leave, since a problem documented at the gate is easier to resolve.

    If you think you have been scammed

    • Contact your card issuer or bank right away and dispute the charge.
    • Contact the platform you bought through and file a guarantee claim, with screenshots of the listing, messages and payment.
    • Report the fraud to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov, which feeds the Consumer Sentinel database law enforcement uses.
    • Report it locally: your state attorney general's consumer protection office and BBB Scam Tracker both accept ticket fraud reports.
    • Secure your accounts. If you entered a password through a suspicious link, change it and turn on two-step verification.

    The FTC's general guide on how to avoid a scam lists the same core signs that apply to tickets: impersonation of a trusted name, pressure to act immediately, and demands for a specific payment method.

    Frequently asked questions

    Is it safe to buy tickets from someone on Facebook or Instagram?

    It is the riskiest way to buy. Accounts can be hacked or fake, and sellers usually ask for payment methods you cannot reverse. Buying through a marketplace that guarantees the order is far safer.

    What is the safest way to pay for resale tickets?

    A credit card, through the platform's own checkout. The Fair Credit Billing Act lets you dispute charges for goods not delivered as agreed if your dispute reaches the issuer within 60 days of the first bill showing the error.

    Can a screenshot of a ticket get me in?

    Often not. Many mobile tickets live inside a ticketing app, and an image can be copied and sold to several buyers. A seller who offers only a screenshot is a warning sign.

    How do I know a ticket website is not a fake?

    Type the address yourself instead of clicking an ad, look for a named company with contact details and a written guarantee, and expect the total price to appear up front as the FTC fee rule requires.

    Where do I report a ticket scam?

    Report it to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov, to your state attorney general's consumer protection office and to BBB Scam Tracker. Dispute the charge with your card issuer as soon as possible.

    Sources