Carrier Dome officials are teaming up with the Syracuse Police Department to take on ticket scammers and fight counterfeiting.

The Dome staff has encountered an increasing amount of counterfeit tickets in recent years, said Jeremiah Maher, associate athletics director for ticket operations. With a rising number of tickets sold online with print-at-home methods, forging tickets for Orange games at the Dome becomes a much easier task for scammers, he said.

Recently, SPD arrested a scam artist who admitted to selling forged tickets to at least six victims in places near campus like Bruegger’s Bagels and Jimmy John’s Gourmet Sandwiches, The Post-Standard reported Jan. 29. Both city and state police have charged the suspect with four counts of a forged instrument, which is a felony.

“What this guy did was he took tickets from a game from last year and altered them,” said SPD Sgt. Tom Connellan.  “He made a fake bar code for these fake tickets and sold them through Craigslist.”

The forged tickets can sell for up to $500, while the original tickets they were copied from can be purchased for $136, Connellan said. These forgeries are almost identical to the real tickets, with the only difference being an invalid barcode.

Given the ease with which fake tickets can be made, administrative staff at the Dome have taken an increased security measure to prevent this from happening in the future, Maher said. He added that most forged tickets are encountered during bigger games.

Since there’s a low supply and high demand for good seats, Maher said, people are willing to buy from other places at a higher price. But buying tickets from a secondary source could be much riskier.

To reduce the amount of counterfeit tickets being sold, Dome officials use security measures such as working closely with SPD and patrolling the campus for potential scalpers during games, he said.

“We were part of the process that led to the recent arrest. Once we saw the counterfeit ticket, we reported it to the police immediately,” Maher said. “We’re working with them now to monitor people reselling tickets within 1,500 feet of the Dome.”

In addition to working with the police, the Dome uses a sophisticated bar code system from Ticketmaster for tickets printed at home. The barcodes automatically change as soon as the original owner forwards the ticket via email, preventing mass copies from being spread digitally, Maher said.

Suspicious tickets can be checked for validity at the Dome Box Office.

SPD advises against purchasing tickets from Craigslist, and asks that people who suspect they are victims of counterfeit tickets contact them at 315-442-5222.

Published on February 5, 2013 at 11:25 pm

Contact Alfred: alng@syr.edu

@alfredwkng