Better Business Bureau of Southern Arizona is warning sports fans to be extremely cautious when doing business with Ex Sport Group, a Missouri ticket broker that apparently took $5,200 from a Rhode Island man but never delivered promised tickets to this year’s Super Bowl.

“I was destroyed,” said the retired businessman, a New England Patriots fan. He said he has tried to contact the company’s owner, Wendell Southerland, without success.  He said dozens of phone calls, emails and text messages were unanswered. “Words cannot describe the anger and frustration,” he said.

The case is among several across the country in which football fans say they were duped by Craigslist ads for Super Bowl tickets. Two friends from Boston said they paid a broker $2,800 for two tickets after seeing an ad on the website. The tickets turned out to be counterfeit.  An Indianapolis woman told police she was cheated out of $2,000 when four tickets advertised on Craigslist were never delivered.

Last fall, BBB warned consumers about World Series ticket scams involving Craigslist and other websites.  And earlier this month, an Ohio couple was sentenced to prison for using Craigslist to steal more than $200,000 from hundreds of victims for nonexistent tickets to the Super Bowl, World Series, NBA Finals and numerous concerts.

In the Ex Sport Group case, the Rhode Island businessman said he sent payment for the tickets via FedEx and arranged to meet Southerland in an Indianapolis hotel lobby on the Friday before the Feb. 5 Super Bowl, but Southerland never appeared.  The fan, who had flown to Indianapolis with his son, said he spent thousands more for replacement tickets to the game.

The man said he had seen Southerland’s ad for Super Bowl ticket and hotel packages on Craigslist and was suspicious of the offer at first.  But Southerland convinced him through emails and phone calls that the ticket packages were legitimate.  Southerland pointed out that Ex Sport Group was registered with the Missouri secretary of state.

BBB tried several times to contact Southerland, with no success.  Recently, BBB representatives visited Southerland’s home on Jackson Street in Vinita Park, Mo.  A resident of the house acknowledged that Southerland worked as a sports ticket seller, but said he was not at home. Southerland did not respond to a BBB request for information left at the home.

Kim States, BBB President, said that consumers who pay unfamiliar, third-party brokers for tickets may end up with nothing.  “If you don’t know them and haven’t heard of them, you probably shouldn’t trust them,” she said.

The Patriots fan said the experience ruined what should have been a once-in-a-lifetime event. He said a text message he sent to Southerland summed up his frustration: “How can you do this to my son and me?”

The Missouri secretary of state shows that Ex Sport Group was registered in June 2008.  Southerland is (more…)

With the Super Bowl just around the corner, Better Business Bureau of Southern Arizona is warning consumers to be on the alert for knock-off team jerseys, counterfeit memorabilia and phony game tickets.

“There are three good reasons not to buy counterfeit goods: theft, quality and security,” said Kim States, BBB President. “Counterfeit items are stolen goods. If you love your team, don’t buy a hat or jersey from someone who has stolen the team’s name and logo for their own profit. And counterfeit items are almost always more cheaply made, which means they won’t last as long as the real thing.”

But you may have an even bigger problem if you try to buy counterfeit memorabilia online. Several BBBs around the country have reported websites that don’t even have any merchandise to sell you…they just want your credit card number and personal information in order to steal your identity or drain your bank account. The best way to ensure you are getting official sports gear is to buy directly from the team or league websites, or from official vendors at the stadium.

Tickets for the big game can be an even bigger rip-off. Thousands of Super Bowl tickets are currently listed on Craigslist, but the site offers no guarantees of any kind and does not require identification of its listers. Buying in person isn’t always an improvement, as it’s gotten easier and easier for scammers to make fake tickets that look real.

So where can you turn? Sites such as Stub Hub (www.stubhub.com) guarantee your tickets’ authenticity. There were 2,800 tickets available as of yesterday, starting at $2,450 a piece. Ticketmaster (www.ticketexchangebyticketmaster.com) handles ticket exchanges for the NFL, and had over 800 tickets available as of yesterday, starting at $2,864.

In general, avoid scams by being skeptical of:

• Offers that sound “too good to be true”
• Pushy sales tactics
• Poor quality of merchandise (more…)

The Super Bowl is all set to go down in Miami in less than two-weeks.  Unfortunately, as is the case most years, scammers will be looking for every opportunity try and to part would-be Super Bowl-goers with their hard earned money.

There have been reports in NFL cities of people selling official-looking, yet completely bogus tickets on the streets, only to have the purchasers turned away at the gate. Better Business Bureau of Southern Arizona advises against purchasing tickets that cannot be verified through the issuing organization.

The same advice applies online.  Sites such as eBay, Craigslist and numerous others offer people the ability to sell their tickets, however, they also offer the opportunity to scammers that may take advantage of fan’s excitement and team loyalty. Some online scams offer to take half of the payment for the tickets upfront as good-faith money, taking the other half afterwards. While this may sound like a good idea at first, it is frequently part of a scam to get any amount of money out of an unsuspecting fan. The scammer will likely disappear after the first transaction.

Beware of sellers asking for cash payments or money transfers, as there is no recourse should the deal go bad. Some online marketplaces will offer you protection for a bogus purchase if you pay through PayPal or with your credit card, but that won’t help you on game day when it’s already too late.

If you decide to purchase tickets through a ticket broker, verify the company’s report at www.tucson.bbb.org, and find out what means the company has to verify that the tickets are legit. Most legitimate ticket brokers take possession of a ticket, independently verify their authenticity, and only then resell the ticket. Some will offer a guarantee of authenticity which includes buying a ticket at the gate if you are turned away on game day. At this time, Ticketmaster’s NFL Ticket Exchange is promoted as the only NFL approved ticket exchange.  In any situation, you will want to ensure that if you chose to purchase tickets, they have a way to validate that the tickets are legitimate. Be aware that tickets may sell for significantly over their face value in many situations. More information regarding ticket brokers is available here.

Also watch out for travel package deals that may “include” Super Bowl tickets, as the package price may be severely inflated to accommodate the purchase of tickets, or the accommodations and other aspects of the package may be below expectations. Be sure to verify all aspects of a travel package if you are of a mind to purchase tickets in that way. BBB Reliability Reports on hotels and other travel services can be checked at www.tucson.bbb.org. The U.S. Department of Transportation has warned that not all tour packages that are marketed as “Super Bowl packages” include a ticket to the game.  If a game ticket is not specifically mentioned in the advertising or solicitations, it is probably not included.  DOT’s rules state that if a tour was described as including a game ticket and you do not receive one, you are entitled to a full refund of the entire package upon your return.  People may file complaints through BBB, but also, through the Aviation Consumer Protection Division of the Department of Transportation at: http://airconsumer.dot.gov.  However, as mentioned before, this will not help you get into the stadium on game day.

BBB encourages fans to be safe, and make wise buying decisions as the Saints and Colts square off for glory in Miami for Super Bowl XLIV.