Via Larry Brown Sports:
Earlier this week, a group of San Francisco 49ers fans from Hayward, Calif. fell victim to a Craigslist scam after paying someone $5,900 for what they thought were four tickets to the Super Bowl. That price would mean the tickets were selling for double face value, which is reasonable compared to the triple and beyond that most secondary markets are charging. However, 49-year-old Sharon Osgood says she never received any tickets.
After wiring the money to the seller’s credit union, Osgood said she received a package in the mail on Monday. That package contained nothing more than a Super Bowl 47 promo picture and a note that said: “Enjoy the game!!!! Go Ravens!!! LOL.” Ouch.
“I’m just sick — like, physically sick,” Osgood told the San Jose Mercury News. “All over the envelope it says ‘go Ravens’ — even on the FedEx label. For a week I was on the phone with this guy. That’s the only reason why we trusted him.
“Do we want to let this affect our celebration of our team going to the Super Bowl? We need to get past that.”
Osgood was not the first person to be scammed for Super Bowl tickets on Craigslist and she won’t be the last. However, she could be the only one whose story has led to five free tickets to the game — four courtesy of Ticketmaster and one from the Niners.
According to the San Jose Mercury News, Ticketmaster CEO Nathan Hubbard heard about the unfortunate story and called Osgood to offer tickets to her and the other members of her family who were scammed. The Niners had already offered a free ticket.
“My heart literally was in my throat; it was fluttering — I was like, ‘Oh my God, I can’t believe this is happening.’ I can’t put into words how grateful I am,” Osgood said while fighting back tears.
Some will say that Osgood doesn’t deserve free tickets, since one of the most basic rules of Craigslist transactions is that you never wire money to a stranger’s account. You’re better off dealing with someone who is looking to trade their wife or a bag of weed for tickets. That being said, sometimes we have a tendency to believe that there are good people in the world who wouldn’t steal our money. In the end, it all worked out nicely for Osgood and company.
Original Story:
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January 31, 2013
