Canada’s victory over the USA at the IIHF World Junior Championship sent fans into celebration and ticket prices soaring.
Mid-afternoon Thursday, resale websites were listing a single ticket for the gold medal game against Czechia for as low as $1,089 and as high as nearly $29,000.
Tyler Boutilier tried to snag a ticket to the final on a buy and sell page on Facebook. At first, posts looked promising.
“Lots of comments like, ‘I have four tickets, I have three tickets,’” he said.
However, after messaging back and forth with one person, Boutilier sensed a red flag.
“They wanted the money for the one ticket and then they would send the ticket. They wanted the money first,” he said.
Boutilier wasn’t interested in sending money to a potential buyer he’d never met. He suggested they meet in person.
“And then she said, ‘Well, I can meet later in Ontario,’ and that’s when I sort of knew it was all a scam,” he said.
The hockey fan didn’t alert police but others have.
“They believe they’ve been taken advantage of or scammed in some way in relation to purchase of these tickets,” said Halifax Regional Police Const. John Macleod.
Macleod said police are investigating. He advises fans to buy tickets from trusted retailers or sites they know.
“If something sounds too good to be true, you should trust your instincts,” Macleod said.
Boutilier decided to play his own game on people trying to…
