Thousands of fans wanted to see Justin Bieber, but the concert sold out within just minutes. Now fans who thought they got tickets on the resale market are learning those tickets are fakes.
Beiber Fever is sweeping Houston. But the excitement of these fans is equalled only by the disappointment felt by Elizabeth Green.
"I'm trying to surprise my daughter for her eighth birthday with Justin Bieber tickets," Green says.
Green says she spent $300 for a pair of Justin Beiber tickets advertised on Craigslist. She says shortly after paying the seller in cash, she started to worry about the paper tickets she bought.
"Well sure enough, we call Live Nation and no, these seats don't even exist at the Toyota Center, they don't do fast tickets at all," Green says.
Green says after posting her experience online, at least four other families responded that the same thing happened to them.
There are ways to be certain the ticket you buy is the real thing.
First, paper tickets are easier to duplicate than the card stock version.
"A lot of people can't make this actual hard ticket with all this information on the back," says Kayla Ramsey with Midtown Tickets.
Ramsey says before you buy from someone from Craigslist, call the venue and ask if the tickets are real. The paper tickets Green bought are in a section that does not even exsist at Toyota Center.
"Toyota Center does not issue email tickets," Ramsey said.
After we told Ramsey about the Greens' fake tickets, she offered to give a pair to Green and her daughter free of charge.
The man who sold the fakes is nowhere to be found. Another point, he only accepted cash. That's a red flag, according to experts in the ticket selling business.
