EPPD Says Beware of This One Direction Ticket Scam

The El Paso Police Department is warning One Direction fans eager to get their hands on tickets to the hottest concert to come to El Paso in years that unscrupulous opportunists come out of the woodwork for these types of events, and if you're not careful you could end up with counterfeit tickets.

Police say these type of individuals bank on the fact that fans of the group, or their parents who will do anything for them, will want tickets at whatever costs necessary. That makes them susceptible to fake ticket scams.

One popular scheme employed is to purchase legitimate tickets online, make multiple copies of them, and sell them to several people. What happens then is that only the first person to get his or her ticket scanned at the gate will be allowed in. Everyone else will be turned away, left holding a worthless copy.

The odds of being burned by this particular scam increases when the tickets are the type that have been printed off of a home computer, and sold on Craigslist, Facebook, or from a stranger on the street. EPPD says the best way to protect yourself against this or any kind of ticket fraud is to purchase them from the University Ticket Center or from a reputable seller like Ticketmaster, Live Nation or StubHub, for example.

If you do decide to go through an individual, they suggest you get the person’s name and number and, if possible, note what vehicle they drive and license plate number. Even better would be a photo of the person.

In the event you or someone you know ends up getting duped, the cops encourage you to report the incident by calling 915-832-4436.