On Sept. 1, the University of Georgia Police Department was contacted by a student who was scammed when trying to purchase tickets for the UGA-Oregon football game, according to a report from UGAPD.
The student — who met the scammer in the “UGA Ticket Swap” GroupMe chat — sent them $300 through Venmo for three tickets but they never received them or any further information, the report said.
Ticket scams have begun to frequently appear in the ticket swap GroupMe chat and other online groups for things related to Athens and UGA.
“The scammers are rampant,” wrote junior business management major Grant Hendrix in an email to The Red & Black. He has exchanged tickets through various GroupMe chats since his freshman year.
“GroupMe has a feature where you can see suggested chats and join them with no barriers at all,” Hendrix wrote. “I think this is how they get in the chats at such a large rate. They pop up in any chat that has to do with Athens and selling something.”
Spotting the scams
The scammers may use a variety of different tactics, including offering tickets at low prices and using other student’s IDs for verification.
“You can’t really tell which ones are scammers at first,” Hendrix wrote. “Everyone will send chats like ‘Selling Kent State, DM me with offers.’ It’s not until you actually message them that it…
