The Cardinals and the Dodgers begin the NLCS tonight in St. Louis. As the region is excited for the Cardinals and hope for a return to the Word Series, fans need to beware of NLCS playoff ticket fraud. According to a recent release from the Better Business Bureau, the St. Louis area has seen more than its fair share of fraudulent ticket sales. Recent cases involving area ticket sellers or events include: The sale of about two dozen “very poorly done” counterfeit tickets to the May 23 English Premier League soccer game between Manchester City and Chelsea at Busch Stadium; the arrest of a St. Ann woman following media reports that she used Craigslist ads to sell several duplicate copies of tickets to the Bruno Mars concert at Scottrade Center; and concert goers in several states who complained that they paid a ticket broker from western Illinois hundreds of dollars each for tickets they never received.

According to the BBB, the secondary market for sporting and entertainment tickets is estimated at about $10 billion a year. It includes tickets bought and sold by professional brokers as well as those purchased and resold by speculators and season ticket holders.The Cardinals’ authorized ticket reseller is StubHub.com, and the baseball club recommends buying directly from the Cardinals or through StubHub.

If you decide to attend the games and need to purchase tickets, the BBB recommends the following safety tips:
1. Be careful buying tickets from someone on the street. When you get to the gate and find out your tickets are not real, the seller will be long gone.
2. If buying tickets online, make sure the website has a secure payment processing system, usually denoted by “https://” at the start of its website address or URL or a small closed lock icon at the bottom of the screen.
3. If you are buying tickets through an online classified ad site, never pay the seller by wire transfer. You will have no way to get your money back if the tickets do not arrive or are counterfeit.

Enjoy the games, and Let’s Go Cards!

Photo Courtesy of Flickr user Adam Fagen