Auburn-Tennessee Fans: Beware Counterfeit Tickets at Jordan-Hare

I don't know if I could get into some trouble for this, and quite frankly I don't care.

I feel that as a fan of college football, and a fan of the home team hosting Tennessee, I must give this warning to both Auburn and Tennessee supporters.

I was at the game last Saturday night between LSU and Auburn. I was sitting in my designated seat when I heard a loud verbal commotion behind me.  An Auburn fan was verbally destroying four LSU fans.  They were in her seats!

As it turned out, they had purchased four very good fake tickets outside the stadium.

Give credit to Auburn University for making fake tickets nearly impossible to make.  However, these were very good and had "simulated" hologram logos.  The printing on the back was the dead giveaway—it was close but not the same.

By no fault of their own, the poor LSU fans lost their money and their seats.  Should they blame Auburn?  No—as it turns out, the LSU fans purchased the tickets from fellow LSU fans.  Talk about helping one of your own!     

This kind of fraud happened two years ago, so be warned.  From what I heard there were a lot of LSU and Auburn fans that got taken with this scam.

I believe it to be true—not more than 15 minutes after the Auburn lady took her seat back, four more fans showed up and another argument began, resulting in the removal of those fans holding the fake tickets.  Remember, you are responsible for any loss of funds or otherwise if you get taken by these crooks.   

Auburn and Tennessee fans must take caution when purchasing tickets from scalpers.  Before getting my allotted season tickets, I purchased tickets from scalpers and never had a problem.  If you do take the risk, have a police officer look at the tickets before you hand over your cash.  If the tickets are real, then the scalper should not have a problem.

I grew up in Auburn, and to my knowledge a scalper has never been arrested unless caught selling fake tickets. If a friendly officer of the APD can't tell if the ticket is good or not, he may be able to find someone with the University who can.  Don't be scared to ask him.

DO NOT!!!  Trust the security people at the entrance gate to validate your ticket.  They are no more than Rip-A-Ticket personnel and "may" not be fully trained to verify the authenticity of a ticket.  How do you think the LSU and Auburn fans who were scammed got into the stadium in the first place?

One other point: Located on the front of each real ticket, Auburn will be spelled in block style, large chrome letters. Across the letters will be small football-shaped holograms that will show in the letters as you move the ticket back and forth.  Don't trust this 100 percent due to the fact that this style of hologram paper can be purchased or stolen.

Did the fake scalper tickets last week have real hologram paper? I don't know, but the letters were chrome.   

Like I said, purchase at your own risk.  Unfortunately there are a lot of criminals in the world preying on everyone.  Have a safe trip, be careful, and enjoy the game.

War Eagle...