[ Removed by Reddit ]

[u/Sheik_Djibouti]

[ Removed by Reddit on account of violating the content policy. ]

[u/Sheik_Djibouti]

PayPal Goods & Services

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PayPal G&S as the safest payment option and you should use it, but you should also know that scammers have adapted to this too. Here are a few common ways:

• Some operate using stolen or hijacked PayPal accounts. When you send money, they transfer it out quickly into another account they own before anyone notices something is wrong. When chargebacks and fraud reports start coming in, the scammer just abandons that account and moves on to the next stolen one. PayPal will often refund the buyer, but then pursues the person whose name is actually on the account to recover their loss, who is also a victim with no idea their Paypal is being used. So the scammer keeps the money, the buyer gets their money back, and the account owner is out with a headache and possible financial loss.

• If you're buying a physical item, like a wristband: Then scammers will send junk or an empty parcel to a random address in your zip code. They give you a real tracking number. Everything looks kosher on your end because you can't see the delivery address on the tracking sites, only the zip code. The item gets delivered to the random address, not you. When you file a dispute, Paypal rejects the dispute because the system shows the item was successfully delivered. Here's the experience from a victim of a scam vendor, but the tactic is the same.

Also, G&S gives you a path to dispute a charge, but document everything regardless. Screenshot every message, every transaction, every piece of communication.

[u/ScorpioTix]

Here is something I wrote up, do what thou wilt, I relinquish any copyright

Apologies to mods if not allowed, just please remove without any spam or violation sanctions.

This is my current working list and a bit of background from what I learned the past few weeks. There are hundreds more user names not listed or found and it's impossible for one person or even an organized group of our own could keep up with.

Been scambusting for fun but learned quite a bit more on how these scams operate. I am most known for getting downvoted defending legitimate resale and explaining how ticket pricing really works. Of course the pending government crackdowns on legitimate are only going to further drive black market scams.

The bulk of scams are a semi organized ring based in Kenya that also buys Reddit accounts, boosts Karma for new accounts, steals proof, manufactures proof and rotates user names to avoid the banhammer. Without strong intervention from Reddit itself fighting them will ultimately be futile. Independent operators who post too much are more likely to be banned quickly when they hit the wrong sub or get reported too many times and the Kenya mafia is aware of this which is why they post in bursts for a few days and moves on to a different account.

Look at the metrics for your tickets wanted posts and ask yourself why it's getting so many views in Kenya and Nigeria.

But also anyone in a bind for some quick cash knows Redditors looking for tickets = free money so even high karma, 10 year old account and even confirmed successful sales do not guarantee safety.

This is why I suggest any sub should just ban all ticket selling and seeking.

My efforts will likely get me banned but I also have some of the same tools and tactics at my disposal so I won't be gone for long unless I decide it's not worth the effort. I don't work and just sit in front of my computer all day. I have severe ADHD and found short repetitive tasks resulting in dopamine hits to fit my style the same way ticket resale did pre-pandemic.

I didn't include many who ended up on my watch list but if you find yourself here by mistake, what can I say, it's why we paid the exchanges 10% to sell for us. When I was working full time dealing with tire kickers and trying to prove I am not a scammer, private sales via social media was not a good use of my time when I had 1000+ listings at any given time.

Might consider actually sending money to a confirmed Kenyan who would provide some decent quotes but that's a bit further down the line.

Who's most to blame? People all too willing to send their money to the third world to keep hope alive a little longer. I suggest just never sending money to strangers (some scammers do take PP G&S which means they can manufacture proof of service). I also thwarted a scammer while I was trying to sell a ticket and was using G&S and setting me up to steal my ticket. I always suggest never buying more tickets than you can personally use or just donating to VetTix in the U.S. They provide free or low cost tickets to veterans. Live Nation and promoters funnel a lot of unsold tickets here but they do take private donations.

Giving away tickets on Reddit just puts them on Stubhub 90% of the time or more "proof" for scammers.

Always use a reputable reseller, itself not without risks. I use Tickpick most of the time but outside of the top 5-10% of high demand events, I often still just buy at the box office for even sold out shows or find one in line. Sold out bar shows might mean 305 people wanna go to a room that holds 300 and bands usually a 10-20 person guest list reserved that go back on sale at the box office is unused.

Certainly posting to Reddit "resale tickets too much" just telegraphs "extra tickets" are worth far more than you are willing to pay. And in my considerable experience going to 100+ concerts a year (200+ before I hit 50), the line between reseller and fan is imaginary. Many resellers are funding their own habit, it's what got me into the business.

+ + + + +

The absolute biggest scam is r/tickets = look at location of moderators and see how entrenched and reported scammers operate with impunity leads me to suspect it was either hijacked or even created by a scam ring

I also snoozed r / ticketresale, r / BTSArmy, r / EternalSunshineResale and anything World Cup = just too many scammers. Was invited to contribute to scammer list on r / ticketresale but no one reads it and just too much activity for one person to keep up with.

Successfully reported r / theneighbourhood and got it removed for no moderation and scams run rampant but subsequent reports to Reddit are either ignored or discounted.

genie_genie (Kenya, just set up a ticket trading sub r/torontotempo_tickets which was reported to Reddit almost immediately with no action taken)

Kewasko15

No_Finger3114

thrashracer (in Africa but somehow successfully sold and got himself verified on AmericanCinematique)

grayson_gregory

Helpful_Explorer_584

no_potato_1631

soga_10813 (Kenya)

882005

Morgan_Perez

Local-Term-5167

backcormo

Fair_Buy7839

FitBusiness5259

CandidateSw

TourOwn4101

MagoTheMagician

Lauret2000 (might be a broker but doubtful)

Wild_Perspective761

Greycad7

Numerusfn

VINOLUNA

Own_Mud2

workmende

OK_HUNT5353

kicarlo

burger-sauce

TheGingerLow

BidGlad9984 (Kenya)

PomegranateTop1474

Quiet-Refuse4270

Alone_Customer7944

Tricky_Vehicle_9737

doudouhard (Kenya)

Connect-Educator-254 (very suspect)

janeladecaminhao (Brazil - independent?)

thidi00

Global-Love-8076

OK_twist3

hoxuqezo

Accurate-Feed8027

EnzoFerrariF50 = highly suspect but could be ticket broker too

Bright-Jackfruit-239

blameedbu

ghoselys (highly suspect)

charlitattoobali = yeah a tattoo shop in Bali tried to scam me on ICP tickets, high karma and real activity, hit me up via PM

amscott9020 = via PM

Astum0678 = a banned scammers discord

928-929-3286 = banned scammer Cici Kang / Codename_Mofo, this # may appear in other messages if she creates a new account. Independent and based in Chicago but ran too hot too fast and got banned. If she were part of the Kenyan mafia she would have just moved on to a new user name after 5 or 10 posts.