What is a Football Ticket Scam?
Scammers offer U-M football tickets for sale on social media, such as GroupMe or Facebook groups, impersonating real students, and ask for payment using nonrefundable methods. They may also request an image of the purchaser’s MCard to verify the identity, but then use that stolen MCard image to perpetuate further scams.
How it Works
Scammers use GroupMe or other social media to offer U-M football tickets for sale. Then the scammers follow up by sending forged emails that appear to come from real students’ @umich.edu email addresses. The emails:
- Claim to prove the legitimacy of the ticket sellers.
- Will often include an image of a stolen MCard to impersonate actual U-M students.
- May be from a forged email that appears to be a real student’s @umich.edu email address.
- Ask the recipients to send payment through CashApp, Venmo, or other non-refundable methods.
- Promise to transfer the tickets once payment is made.
What to Watch Out For
- Be suspicious of offers for football tickets. The best way to avoid these scams, according to police, is to buy your game day football tickets through authorized sources.
- Forged emails that appear to come from a real student’s @umich.edu email address.
- If contacted directly via email, pay attention to the reply-to address, if there is one. Always verify by sending a new, separate email to the seller’s @umich.edu email address to verify their identity.
- Be especially cautious with interactions with newly joined members of a group.
- Refer to How to Spot a Spoof for tips on recognizing clues that indicate an email might be spoofed or forged.
How to Protect You and U-M
- Do not send an image of your MCard to prove your affiliation to a would-be ticket-seller or ticket-buyer.
- Never send money for tickets over Venmo, CashApp, or any other untraceable source.
- Verify emails that appear to come from a real student’s @umich.edu email address. Look up the person in the MCommunity directory, send a new email to that address, and wait for a reply.
- Do not sell tickets to or purchase tickets from someone you do not know. Only do business with individuals whose identity you have verified.
- Set up two-factor authentication on all online services that support it. Most social media and financial websites do.
If You Get Caught
- Students who have fallen victim to one of these scams, which resulted in loss of money, should contact the University of Michigan Police Department at 734-763-1131 or text 377911.
- If you become aware that you have been a victim of an impersonation scam, inform your colleagues, friends, and any relevant contacts, that such communications are fraudulent.
- To report fraudulent Groupme postings or fraud on other social media platforms, follow the specific platform’s guidelines for reporting impersonation.
- Forward any email communication with the scammer to [email protected].