| 07 March 2010
Earlier this week, we came across a highly disheartening article on CNET.com, detailing an elaborate scam of the Ticketmaster system by shady ticket scalpers. Unfortunately, part of the scam involved 2007 Yankees playoff tickets, so readers of NYYSI were likely affected. The scam, masterminded by four men who owned "Wise Guy Tickets" went something like this:
- Purchase hundreds of domain names, create thousands of email addresses and register them for postseason ticket pre-sale opportunities to gain an unfair advantage and secure hundreds of pre-sale codes.
- Use an advanced system to hack the CAPTCHA human verification system and automatically purchase Yankees playoff tickets as soon as they go on sale.
- Profit.
The perpetrators were eventually caught, but for those who were shut out of 2007 Yankees playoff tickets (or paid well above face value), this has to sting.
At some point in the past decade, Yankees fans came to accept the online-only method of purchasing tickets - after all, it seemed to be the most fair and streamlined. When we log onto Ticketmaster.com to buy tickets, we laugh about the "old days" (as recent as the early 00's) when we lined up (and even camped) outside of Yankee Stadium for public ticket sales.
This system serves us well, as we happily register our single email address for a chance at Yankee tickets. If we "hit the lottery" and we have the distinct privilege to buy tickets, we frantically hit F5 on our keyboard - trying to squeeze the most out of our cable internet connection. We're just happy to have a chance to buy Yankees tickets!
Meanwhile, elaborate scammers like "Wise Guy Tickets" are registering thousands of email addresses and paying Bulgarian hackers to unfairly hack the Ticketmaster system, exponentially increasing their odds of scoring coveted tickets at face value. Sure, that particular outfit was caught (after making $25 MILLION selling the most sought-after tickets), but how many others just like them are still scamming the system? It is nice to think that this was a rare case of Ticketmaster falling asleep at the wheel, but we're skeptical - how hard can it be to create an unfair number of email addresses?
When you partake in a Yankees pre-sale via Ticketmaster, you have to expect the worst and be surprised by the best. Until the Yankees enact variable ticket pricing, scalpers will swoop in for their cut of the lucrative pie. Since scalpers purchase in volume, they'll always find ways to gain advantages over the average fan. We're not saying there isn't any chance of scoring tickets during pre-sales and public ticket sales - we're just saying we're up against some truly greedy forces. Buyer beware.
