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06/14/2005: Thinking of buying a spare ticket outside the ballpark? Think again.....
A new ticket scalping scam is being seen around ballparks where the stadium uses barcoded tickets which are scanned, and the tickets are then returned to the customer, whole (i.e., untorn). Such a system has been in place here at AutoZone Park since at least last year (if not earlier), and such a system was in place at Busch Stadium during my recent visit to see the Red Sox/Cardinals game.
It didn't take long for a dishonest person to realize that, being in possession of an untorn ticket, it'd be no problem to slip that ticket to a confederate outside the stadium, who could then sell the ticket to an unsuspecting schlub looking to get into the game.
The problem is that, once the unique barcode on the ticket is scanned, a computer "invalidates" that ticket for the day's(evening's) game. If someone else presents that ticket later in the evening, s/he will be denied admission to the ballpark, and will be, if necessary, politely but firmly escorted away. And of course, any money paid for the bogus ticket is lost.
Caveat emptor. Especially emptores purchasing tickets from guys on the street.
Len on 06.14.05 @ 08:33 PM CST
