FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- A Sanger woman and another longtime Giants fan are crushed after getting scammed out of World Series tickets. The Central Valley women paid more than $500 for tickets on Craigslist only to get nothing in return.
Michele Osuna of Sanger says all last week she was scouring the Web to find tickets to the World Series. But the road to AT&T Park didn't go as planned for the two diehard fans.
When Osuna found a pair of World Series tickets for only $500 on Craigslist, she says she let her emotions get the best of her.
"Super nice guy, just very believable," said Osuna. "'Oh I'm so glad you guys get to go. You know I live here in Missouri.' It was just so -- it was a great story, it was very believable."
The ticket seller on the other end of the phone was from Springfield, Mo., but didn't seem so far away when they talked about their love of baseball. But after Osuna transferred more than $500 to his account, he disappeared.
"Just sick inside," she said. "By then he wouldn't answer the phone, and there was no mailbox set up, and we realized oh my gosh, we fell for this scam."
It's a sad story that's all too common for Central California Better Business Bureau President and CEO Blair Looney. He sees these scams whenever there's a high demand for a sold-out game.
"Very sophisticated printing operations can on a home printer print what looks like a real ticket. Print the front side in multiple colors, print the backside with the stripes. It would look like it's the real deal," said Looney.
Multiple tickets Action News found on the Fresno Craigslist claim they're for the World Series games, yet not a single ticket is identical.
"You want to buy from a company that has a legitimate business, a telephone number that you can contact that business, an address where you can contact them, and what kind of return policy do they have should something go awry," said Looney.
Osuna has filed a police report with the Springfield Police Department but was told there's a small chance she'll get her money back.
"It felt like as the little fans or the true fans like we're priced out of the market, you know like, it's expensive," said Osuna.
If you do buy from a Craigslist seller, snap a picture of the license plate number of their car. That way if you do get tricked, you can report that number to your local police department.