SAN ANTONIO – A scam victim is warning others after losing $10,000 on what they believed were tickets to George Strait’s upcoming concert for flood victims.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy wife received [a] Facebook post advertising [a] George Strait fundraiser in Boerne,\u201d said the man who asked that his identity be withheld for privacy. \u201cDescription, everything seemed legitimate.\u201d<\/p>\n
The July 27 benefit concert, supposedly raising money for Texas flood victims, felt plausible enough. The cause was urgent. The performer was iconic. And the post looked like it came from Strait\u2019s official team.<\/p>\n
I got online and started checking different websites,\u201d he said. \u201cNot a single mention of a scam based around this. Went to [George Strait\u2019s] website, looked at wording and it was the same. Graphics\u2014it was the same. It looked like George\u2019s website.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
The couple exchanged emails with a seller who was responsive and detailed. \u201cThe person at [the] other end of email\u2014back and forth\u2014seemed legit. Answering questions,\u201d he recalled. \u201cWe ended up wiring the money in – $10,000 for four tickets.\u201d<\/p>\n
Then came the blow.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen we found out it was a scam,\u201d he said. \u201cWe had lost $10,000.\u201d<\/p>\n
But for him, the money wasn\u2019t the only loss.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was not concerned about losing the money,” he said. “That\u2019s a lot of money, but I was concerned that someone stole money from people who were suffering in our state.\u201d<\/p>\n
The entire scheme turned on a detail so small it was nearly invisible: a single-letter difference in the email address provided in the Facebook post.<\/p>\n
There was one letter that was different in [the] email in this FB post from the email on George\u2019s website,\u201d he said. \u201cThat was all it took. From that one letter, the money was wired to the wrong [place]. The charity got nothing.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Reflecting on the scheme, the victim didn\u2019t mince words.<\/p>\n
\u201cTragedies bring out the best\u2014Texas in particular. It also brings out the worst, reprehensible in people,\u201d he said. \u201cThere will always be people [who] are unscrupulous. Want to take advantage. It doesn\u2019t matter how tragic.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI think they should get life in prison,\u201d he added. \u201cIt is one of the worst things.\u201d<\/p>\n
His warning to others is direct: \u201cIf you get anything from a third party do your research on that. Beyond that, don\u2019t buy anything from that post. Only buy it from a legit website you checked independently from that post. Chances are good it\u2019s not [legit].\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite the loss, he said he and his wife won\u2019t stop supporting flood relief efforts. \u201cNext steps are keep giving. We [will] be supporting other events around the area.\u201d<\/p>\n
I won\u2019t get any money back,\u201d he said, \u201cbut I don\u2019t want to see anyone else get taken like this.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
The Better Business Bureau says scams like these are unfortunately common\u2014especially during high-profile events or tragedies. They offer several tips for consumers purchasing event tickets:<\/p>\n
\n
- Always try to buy tickets directly from the venue<\/li>\n
- Use a credit card, so you can dispute the charge if necessary<\/li>\n
- Check whether a seller is a member of the National Association of Ticket Brokers by visiting the BBB\u2019s website<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
In an era when digital impersonation takes only a few keystrokes, this victim\u2019s experience is a sobering reminder of how trust can be exploited.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN ANTONIO – A scam victim is warning others after losing $10,000 on what they believed were tickets…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":72545,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5133],"tags":[5229,23986,14426,50785,36848,1580,50784,7202,7203,12842,358,3187,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":["post-72544","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-antonio","tag-america","tag-better-business-bureau","tag-boerne","tag-concert-tickets","tag-flood-victims","tag-fundraiser","tag-george-strait","tag-san-antonio","tag-sanantonio","tag-scam","tag-texas","tag-tx","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114874079397178948","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72544","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72544"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72544\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72545"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72544"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72544"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72544"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}