Protect yourself from ticket scams ahead of the Premier League Summer Series USA Tour

As European soccer teams prepare to kick off their summer soccer tour of the US, it provides a great opportunity for local fans to see some of the world’s top teams and players on their turf. For many English Premier League teams, it is an established annual occurrence and is considered a pre-season warm-up. For some European teams, these adventures are rare, so the opportunity to see them play on US soil is a rare opportunity.

One of the touring teams this summer is Borussia Dortmund. This is the fourth time they have joined forces on a summer tour – the first was back in 1954. This tour is exclusive to IT Security vendor ESET, as the team’s proud sponsor – both during their regular season and for this US tour.

Looking ahead, Borussia Dortmund have several big fixtures scheduled, including Manchester United and Chelsea, and fielded a US international. However, whenever there is a sporting event like this that draws a large crowd, there are opportunistic scammers out to spoil the fun, cheat real fans out of their hard-earned money with counterfeit tickets, or simply sell tickets at exorbitant prices.

The US market for buying and selling tickets is somewhat encouraging scalping due to shortages regulationand thus there is a significant secondary market where tickets can be sold for several times their original value, opening up opportunities for scammers and scammers.

Consider these tips if you want to catch one of the European games this summer (of course, they also apply when buying tickets to concerts or other events throughout the year):

• Buy tickets from the official website promoted by the team, stadium or official ticket website commonly used in your country.
• Avoid tickets advertised on Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace, and other free online listing sites.
• Ignore unknown secondary markets offered in search results.
• Use a payment method that provides protection against fraud, i.e. a credit card or an online payment method. Don’t use a debit card.
• Only purchase tickets that are digitally transferrable and have been verified by the platform selling them.

Ticket sales companies, such as Ticketmaster, actively use technology to fight fraud. For example, SafeTix™, uses a unique barcode that changes every few seconds, preventing fraudsters from copying the barcode and reselling it to multiple parties. Major ticket companies also provide the ability to resell through their own platforms, so that they match the original ticket issuers. They also provide an opportunity for buyers to transfer tickets to their friends and family so that each participant has their own ticket on their device. If you’re traveling in the US this summer and intend to purchase tickets to an event, be aware that tickets may require you to have a data connection on your device to enter as tickets are checked and changed in real time.

For Europeans traveling to the US to watch one of the games, there are some differences in how to buy tickets there. If you haven’t printed tickets by the time they’re released to the public, then the first big difference is that they can be available on secondary market websites, eg SeatGeek And StubHub without price limits, whereas in most of Europe ticket resale is restricted and usually prices are locked to face value or close to it. Furthermore, in some countries, such as England, the resale of football match tickets is prohibited. The other big difference we need to point out is that there is no home and away principle applied, so Home and Away fans will probably be sitting side by side.

Think you may have been scammed? If you think you’ve been scammed, contact the platform you purchased from and your credit card company to cancel the payment.

And finally – if you scored a ticket to a game, enjoy the game! This is a pre-season game with a more relaxed atmosphere as there is no league or competition pressure. It’s about the opportunity to see some of the best in the world compete on US soil, and of course to enjoy the beautiful game.