ATLANTA — Some World Cups fans might not get the tickets they paid for.
Channel 2’s consumer investigator Justin Gray has been looking into how to know if you’re getting official tickets for the tournament.
No matter where you buy the tickets from, he says they can only be obtained and used on the FIFA Mobile app.
Some tickets being sold on the secondary market could be so-called “ghost tickets,” that won’t work to actually get you through the doors of the stadium.
Chuck Irwin bought tickets to Monday night’s match months ago on StubHub. He planned a trip from Florida as a birthday present for his son.
The tickets are still not available to him.
“It’s a long way to go to get the rug pulled,” Irwin said.
Legal Shield, an online legal service company, has data that shows 35% of consumers have experienced ticket problems. 68% of those purchased a “ghost ticket” or a ticket the seller never had. 36% had a verified ticket rejected at the gate as fraudulent.
“You could actually end up purchasing what is a promise to deliver a ticket, but not an actual ticket,” said Legal Shield attorney Wayne Hassay.
Another issue to watch for is fake websites. The FBI has already identified dozens of them.
Online security company TrendLife has spotted sham sites that look like the real FIFA site.
“I often do trainings with consumers and we hold up things side by side and they can’t tell what’s the official site versus the fraudulent one. ,” said Marike Kuyper from TrendLife.
The FBI warns not to click on sponsored links on Google and to carefully type in the name of the website yourself.
StubHub tells Channel 2 Action News that tickets purchased by them are covered by their FanProtect Guarantee, promising replacement tickets or a full refund.
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