For Kristin Foster and her husband, a night out on the town is rare. When they heard one of their favorite rock bands was coming to AT&T Stadium in Arlington they knew a date night was in order.
“I'm a child of the 70s, and U2 has been around so long, and they just have music that is awesome,” said Foster.
They wanted to go all out for this concert: a romantic dinner, Uber, a hotel suite, the works. But first, they needed tickets.
“We use Craigslist a lot. Everything from selling furniture, buying furniture and we've gotten tickets,” she said.
They stuck to what they knew, spending an afternoon browsing through the ad website hoping to spot a good deal. She found two tickets for $300.
“It was decided that we would initially meet him in Addison and then he texted again and said actually let's meet at the Irving Mall,” she said. “I had kind of a bad feeling, one of those gut feelings and then when he didn't have a car and he met us on a parked bench, it kind of seemed even more sketchy,” Foster said.
She pulled out her phone and took pictures of the seller and the transaction, just in case things went south. They got the tickets and thought their night was all set
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“Well we were in line and we handed our tickets to the ticket person and they said, 'we're sorry. These are fake,'” she explained. “I thought they were joking and I said, 'what?'”
All that money spent: a waste. To salvage the night, they spent $200 on standing room tickets to see the show.
“Just anger. Angry that he took advantage of us and I’m sure other people,” said Foster.
The Irving Police Department said it hasn't seen any recent reports of ticket scams. The department could not identify the alleged seller and said he hasn't been charged with a crime, which is why we aren't showing his face.
“I'm glad nothing happened with the exchange for one with the tickets. I mean that could've been a more dangerous situation I guess, but again it never occurred to us until we got there,” she said.
It's tough lesson for this couple, who just wanted to get out of the house and have a good time.
Ticketmaster said, if you don't want this to happen to you, your best bet is to buy your tickets from original sources like NFL.com, LiveNation.com and, of course, Ticketmaster.com. We realize everyone isn't willing to spend hundreds of dollars on tickets, so if you'd prefer to buy from an outside source, always remember:
• Your safety comes first. Consider meeting at a police station. If the seller doesn't want to do that, that's a red flag.
• You can also call the venue and see if they will authenticate the tickets. Have the ticket taker scan them before you hand over any money.
• If you believe you've been ripped off, submit a complaint to Craigslist. The NBC 5 Responds team reached out to Craigslist about this incident and we're still waiting on a response.
