During this troubling time of the coronavirus, the one thing we can look forward to is The Super Bowl. There are many types of ways scammers can take advantage of this year’s Super Bowl, but because of COVID-19, how is that possible? Let me show you some ways to spot Super Bowl LV scams and how to avoid them.
Types of Super Bowl 2021 Scams
Ticket Scams
Deno Anagnost, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Vice President of Ticket Sales, tweeted this past Tuesday advising fans to not purchase tickets on Craigslist. That Tuesday morning, a quick scan of those tickets on Craigslist came out to be $800-$2000 … sounds too good to be true right? That’s because it is.
According to SportsNews, the prices of legit Super Bowl tickets are ranging between $4,000- $200,000, which is a lot more than scammers are offering on Craigslist. This is because scammers are using Craigslist to post tickets for a too-good-to-be-true price. They can also create fake websites and ads on social media to sell these fake tickets too.
Gambling Scams
I know what you’re thinking “how can I get scammed by gambling?” You probably have your trusted Draftkings or fantasy league of NFL approved websites right? Well, even posts and links to fake websites on social media might get you into trouble with scammers!
Scammers will post fake posts and phishing links on social media, stating that you can make double your money back if you participate. They then ask for your personal and financial information so that they can commit identity theft and drain your bank account.
Merchandise Scams
This is gonna be a mind-blower, you can even get scammed out of merchandise. Scammers set up fake websites that claim to sell legit-looking merchandise. These websites contain malware that will steal your personal information out of your device it’s downloaded on.
When you click the form to purchase something, it will ask for a lot of detailed personal and financial information to fill out. Then once you fill it out, scammers take the personal and financial information to steal your identity and drain your bank account.
How to Avoid Super Bowl LV Scams
- Use NFL approved gambling sites like Draftkings or Fantasy football for your gambling needs.
- Only purchase merchandise off of the official NFL website.
- Don’t purchase Super Bowl Tickets off of Craigslist.
- Don’t give anyone you don’t know your personal or financial information.
- Do your research on a seller or website before making a purchase on it.
Social Catfish is Here to Help!
This year is supposed to be special for all Americans to come together and watch a great sport of athleticism and strategy. Do you really want to scammed out of hundreds… or even thousands of dollars?
At Social Catfish, we want to help you verify the identities of those who might seem suspicious to you. If you have their name, email address, phone number, social media username, or image, you can reverse search and see who the suspected person was that you’ve been in contact with if you think you’ve been a victim of Super Bowl LV scams.