iovation Releases Tips to Avoid Ticket Scams for the Big Game

PORTLAND, OR--(Marketwired - Jan 28, 2016) - iovation, the provider of device intelligence for authentication and fraud prevention, today released its list of how to avoid ticket scams ahead of the the big game on Feb. 7 in Santa Clara, Calif. With the average ticket price for last year's big game in Glendale, Ariz. being thousands of dollars and some having gone for more than ten thousand dollars, iovation anticipates that fraudsters will be out in force.

"Much like with Cyber Monday, fraudsters set up their schemes around events that attract the most money," said iovation's Vice President of Operations, Molly O'Hearn. "We are working hard to prevent dishonest brokers from getting their hands on legitimate big game tickets."

Based on analysis of millions of transactions for some of the world's largest ticketing companies every year, iovation has outlined the best ways for consumers to avoid falling victim to "super-sized" ticket fraud:

• Don't buy e-tickets -- Unlike other sporting events and concerts, the big game does not have electronic tickets. Tickets printed from a computer are fake.
• Get game ticket before booking travel -- Short-selling brokers sell big game tickets before actually having them in hand, then try to buy them the week before the game when street prices tend to drop. But last year prices actually went up, leaving consumers who already bought tickets from these brokers empty-handed. Most of them got ticket refunds, but had already paid thousands of non-refundable dollars in airline and hotel bookings for the big game.
• Research the seller/broker -- See what others have experienced with a seller at the Better Business Bureau. Also, see if they are a member of the National Association of Ticket Brokers. NATB members pay 200 percent of a ticket price to consumers if it doesn't arrive in time for the big game.
• Use a credit card or PayPal -- Protect yourself by using a credit card or PayPal and never use cash or wire a payment. Cash is forever but you can reverse a payment with credit cards and PayPal if you don't receive the ticket that was advertised.
• Be wary of classified ads, Craigslist or eBay -- You take a big chance when buying from an individual selling tickets online. Your probability of running into a scam definitely increases when you deal with an unknown individual.
• Check the refund policy -- Only buy from a ticket reseller that provides clear details about if and how they refund what you paid for a ticket if it doesn't arrive.

About iovation
iovation protects online businesses and their end users against fraud and abuse, and identifies trustworthy customers through a combination of advanced device identification, shared device reputation, device-based authentication and real-time risk evaluation. More than 3,500 fraud managers representing global retail, financial services, insurance, social network, gaming and other companies leverage iovation's database of billions of Internet devices and the relationships between them to determine the level of risk associated with online transactions. The company's device reputation database is the world's largest, used to protect 15 million transactions and stop an average of 250,000 fraudulent activities every day. The world's foremost fraud experts share intelligence, cybercrime tips and online fraud prevention techniques in iovation's Fraud Force Community, an exclusive virtual crime-fighting network. For more information, visit iovation.com.