Sabres fans fall for ticket scam

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) - Some Buffalo Sabres fans hoping to see the team play at First Niagara Center were in for a surprise when they went downtown - the tickets didn't exist.

The fans who paid money for the tickets saw an posted Thursday morning on Craigslist offering four tickets to the Sabres game for $150. The victim who alerted News 4 about the ad says he called a man who identified himself as John Bradley and the two arranged to meet at the Boulevard Mall.

When the two met, the victim handed over the cash and was told to pick up the tickets at the will call window at First Niagara Center under the name "Presley Elvis."

When the victim showed up at the will call window hours before the game, he was told there are no tickets on hold under that code name, and the person at the counter says he wasn't the only one who fell for it.

While News 4 was near the ticket counter preparing our story, we stumbled across another group of four dejected fans. They didn't want to talk on camera but said they also had responded to that Craigslist ad, arranged to meet the same man at a different location and was also told to pick them under Presley Elvis.

At least four groups of four people that we know of handed over $150 each in this scam.

The Sabres organization recommends Stubhub if you must buy through a third party.

Peggy Penders of the Better Business Bureau said, "There are ticket holders that need to sell their tickets for a variety of reasons, but they should be able to have information about that seller. Certainly there are some questions that you might ask of the seller and certainly you don't want to pay for anything unless you have the property in your hand."