How to avoid scams when shopping for last-minute Taylor Swift tickets

PITTSBURGH — Scammers are going to great lengths to try to trick you into paying big bucks for fake tickets to Taylor Swift’s “The Eras Tour.”

With the tour arriving in Pittsburgh this weekend, 11 News did some digging on how you can protect yourself from scams when buying last-minute tickets.

We know there are still plenty of people in Pittsburgh hoping to score tickets to one of this weekend’s shows. Officials warn you have to be careful of scammers and as one woman told us, the scammers are extremely good at what they do.

“They’re so so unaffordable for everybody it seems, I started looking into Facebook marketplace,” explained Brianna Scanlan.

Scanlan told us in her search to score tickets, she came extremely close to falling victim to a scam artist.

In a video he sent to her, the scammer screen recorded himself opening the Ticketmaster app, scrolling to the Friday night show, and opening fake tickets for section 108,

“They’ll open the Ticketmaster app, show tickets, it all looks real, and then it’s these fine little details that are off. Facebook groups have been really helpful,” Scanlan said.

Only 1% of tickets are currently available on StubHub, with the lowest tickets going for around $1350 each.

We found floor seats between $5,000 and $7,600, with some prices reaching $15,000.

The City of Pittsburgh held a press conference Wednesday to help prepare fans for a safe experience. Nearly 70,000 tickets were sold for each night.

Acricsure officials say they’re aware of how many scammers are out there trying to capitalize on this conference and a large number of fans still hoping for tickets, but they say if tickets didn’t come from Ticketmaster, you have to be cautious.

“We want to make sure our fans understand there will always be scams at any event you go to, we are encouraging fans to make sure they purchase through Ticketmaster and ticket exchange site,” an official said.

“I’m sure Taylor Swift will tour some more, we’ll make it to the next one hopefully!” said Scanlan.

If you come across tickets for sale, check out the rows and seat numbers. Rows in Acrisure Stadium are marked by letters.

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