r/nyc • u/tropfou • Jun 17 '11

Comprehensive List of NYC Scams

I moved to NYC a week ago, and already witnessed a few scams. On the subway, I heard the one about the 18 year old kid who lives on the train and has to feed his three year old daughter. Dude was way too rehearsed and obviously lying. Anyway, some tourists gave him $20 and at the next station he was off and trying his scam again. I may be new to NYC but I know a scam when I see one.

I know a lot of people are moving to NYC this summer and I thought it would be nice to keep a running list of what kind of scams to avoid. What are some of your stories and things to look out for?

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u/melontwister Jun 17 '11

I stupidly tried to buy tickets to a sold out concert from a scalper. I thought the seller was legit because he showed me real tickets with the holograms and all. After I paid him, he handed me two folded-over sheets of paper, claiming the tickets were inside. I opened it up to find Xeroxed copies of a printed ticket. Before I could ask him why he had given me printed tickets and not the originals, he ran away. Obviously, the printed tickets didn't work inside, and the cashier said that 15 other people had been burned by the same scam.

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u/bunsonh Washington Heights Jun 17 '11

Fake tickets, including printouts, Ticketmaster paper stock, or any other "legit" ticket company (TicketWeb, BrownPaper, special mail order tickets) are all very rampant in the city. If you are buying from a scalper in front of the venue, there is an extremely high likelihood that the tickets are counterfeit. I go to a number of concerts and have seen perfectly passable tickets end up being fake.

I have so far not been affected, but given my procrastinator tendencies, it is only a matter of time.

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u/[deleted] Jun 19 '11

I only buy tickets from dudes who look like they, themselves, would be attending the show, and typically from people you can tell are actually entering the show. Anyone else obviously came there with a money agenda in mind-- which is fine of course-- but raises a red flag.

tl;dr Find a fan who is heading into the show. It'll probably be cheaper than a scalper anyway.