Tips to avoid being scammed online and losing your money

It’s the time of year for the worst online scams – the ones that tug at on everyone’s heartstrings.

A CityNews viewer and father shared his story about buying what he thought were legitimate brokered Maple Leafs hockey tickets only to find out it was all a scam. The father – who did not want to be identified – told CityNews he wanted to take his son to his first hockey game and that the tickets cost him $400.

He found the deal on Kijiji and the person “helping to broker” the sale told him to set up a Ticketmaster account, so the seller could easily transfer the tickets once the money was successfully e-transferred.

But after the money was transferred, the tickets never made their way into the buyer’s hands.

“You put your trust in people and this is what happens,” he said. “It was probably too good to be true, (the price) which should have been my first hint that something might have been up.”

CityNews reached out to Kijiji for a comment on the scam. In a statement, Kijiji said, “while many people use Kijiji as a resource to find tickets for a variety of events, Kijiji encourages users to exercise caution when conducting these types of transactions. Kijiji suggests being skeptical of ads that seem ‘too good to be true’ and suggests before purchasing tickets from a third-party ticket seller, to ask themselves if they seem trustworthy.”

So, how do you protect yourself from being scammed?

Here are some easy to follow tips from the president of the Canadian Ticket Brokers Association, Angie Coss.

  • Find a phone number
  • Speak to someone
  • Check to see if they’re a member, see logo
  • Call them directly
  • See if they offer a 200% money-back guarantee
  • If it’s too good to be true of a deal, it probably it is
  • Related stories:

    Ontario passes law to ban scalper bots, strengthen ticket laws

     

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