CLEVELAND — With all the concerts coming up in Ohio over the next several months, it brings up a lot of potential concert ticket scams. Brian Kaufman, the vice president of Dream Seats Incorporated, a verified ticket sales website, has seen first hand how often people get scammed.

What You Need To Know

  • There are a lot of big concerts in Ohio this summer, which will likely increase the amount of ticket scams

  • Technology has made it easier for people to be scammed since most tickets are electronic

  • It's important to use verified websites, do your research and know the face value of a ticket

“The initial thing, there’s lots of tears and then there’s anger and frustration,” he said.

Kaufman explained the emotions that he’s seen from people after they get scammed and can’t see their favorite artist.

“Going to see your favorite band and whether its Taylor Swift, Imagine Dragons, Paul McCartney or whoever, The Rolling Stones, you know there’s an emotional connection with that,” he said.

Kaufman explained that the rise of technology has played a big part in the increase of ticket scams.

“Less than 1% of tickets now are physical tickets — everything is electronic,” he said.

Kaufman said that electronic tickets have given scammers an advantage.

“It’s a lot easier to electronically reproduce something as opposed to actually physically print something and convince somebody that’s real,” he said.

Judy Dollison with the Better Business Bureau said that you should do your research on concert tickets, use verified ticketing websites, know the face value of a ticket and use debit or credit cards when paying so you could potentially cancel a fraudulent payment. Dollison explained that scams can happen to anyone.

“All age demographics, income levels, education levels — no one’s immune,” she said.