MEMPHIS, Tenn. — March Madness has made its way to Memphis. While the Memphis Tigers will not be taking the hardwood, FedExForum will host its first two teams Friday.
Session One starts with Colgate vs. Baylor at 11:40 a.m., while the second match up sees New Mexico face off against Clemson at 2:10 p.m. Session Two will have Texas A&M take on Nebraska at 5:50 p.m., then Longwood and Houston at 8:20 p.m.
With tip off in Memphis only a day away, thousands of college basketball fans are trying to get their hands on tickets, but it comes with a risk. According to USAA, scammers can try to take advantage of last-minute efforts to secure seats.
"It tends to be a mad rush," said Daniel Diaz, USAA Spokesperson.
According to Diaz, this is one of the most chaotic times for ticket hopeful fans. Plans finally started coming together once the matchups were announced just a few days ago. Diaz said this is an urgency scammers live on.
"What they'll do is they'll set low prices to get you to want to jump in on a deal. The belief is 'ok this deal is not going to last,' (and) you're much more likely to want to swoop in without doing your homework," said Diaz.
Some of the most common ticket scams will be on those high-profile games, and seats closer to the court.
"You're going to be seeing tickets changing hands up until tip," said Diaz.
ABC24 has compiled a list of tips to follow before you purchase your ticket at FedExForum.
- Buy from a trusted vendor like Ticketmaster and StubHub who can offer guarantees against fake listings. If you need to verify if a listing is real or not, head over to VerifiedTicketSource.com
- Use protected payment methods like credit cards, and stay away from deals using cash, wires, or apps like Venmo or Cashapp.
- Look for a refund policy, and refrain from going to listings which do not have explicit details about the terms of transactions.
- Beware of phishing scams from your texts or emails. According to USAA those scams could have official-looking Ticketmaster or StubHub logos and return emails, but links attached to those messages could allow scammers to access your information and allow them to track you.
- While Facebook is sometimes a safe place to look for tickets, it does need to be approached with caution. See how recently the profile you are buying from was set up and how much it has been posting. A profile set up in the past month or with a small amount of posts can be a red flag.
- Trust your gut. If something seems too good to be true, it probably is.
"If you're having doubts, suspicions, something doesn't feel right, lean into that," said Diaz.
It is also good to understand pricing trends. How much you spend will be based on who is playing, where you sit, and what reseller you use. Thursday morning Ticketmaster said the cheapest tickets could be found during Session One at FedExForum in the morning at $6, Sunday evening the cheapest tickets were $40.