UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Penn State University Police and Public Safety (UPPS) is urging Penn State football fans to be wary of ticket scams, which have become prevalent over the past several seasons.

“Online ticketing scams continue to raise concerns as we head into the 2024 college football season, and fans should remain cautious when purchasing tickets online,” said Wesley Sheets, chief of Penn State University Police and Public Safety. “University Police received notice of 99 incidents just last year and victims of these scams, most of whom have been students, have reported losses of hundreds of dollars.”

Most scams take place over social platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and GroupMe. Scammers begin by creating accounts on these platforms and using them to advertise available tickets that do not exist. They will often use fraudulent photographs and request payment in ways other than through a bank or credit card account.

“Most often we are seeing students being asked to pay for tickets via a platform like Venmo or Zelle, which are often complicated for law enforcement to track during an investigation,” Sheets said. “After payment is received, the seller’s account is then deleted and victims are unable to account for the fraudulent purchase.”

To avoid falling prey to ticket scammers, Penn State students, faculty, staff and visitors should plan to only purchase their game day tickets from the Penn State Athletics ticket office and/or Ticketmaster, which are the only authorized sources for Nittany Lion Athletics home event tickets.

Any Penn State student or employee who believes they may be a victim of a scam is urged to report the crime to their campus police station or online at police.psu.edu/report-crime.

Penn State University Police and Public Safety at University Park can be reached at 814-863-1111 and in person at University Support Building 1, Suite 101. For the Commonwealth Campuses, visit police.psu.edu for locations and telephone numbers.