Massachusetts

Patriots Fans Scammed Out of Super Bowl Tickets

Jeff Robinson of Shirley, Massachusetts, looks at photos of what were supposed to be his two Super Bowl tickets.

He and his fiancee, who are die-hard Patriots fans, were scammed out of $5,000.

"I've been scammed out. It's embarrassing," Robinson said. "It is what it is, I just don't want anyone else to go through what I went though."

He says the dream to go to the Super Bowl started last year, when they booked their flight and hotel ahead of time.

"My fiancee and I decided to go into our honeymoon savings," he said. "We're getting married in May."

To save money on fees, Robinson bought the tickets off Craigslist.

He says the seller, who's from Texas, was very charismatic.

They quickly built up trust.

"Talking on the phone, going back and forth, text messages," said Robinson.

And a routine user of Craigslist, Robinson says he knows what to look out for. He says he tried to PayPal the seller money to be secure, but the transfer was blocked.

Robinson says he felt confident enough to send the seller the cash from his bank account.

Before he did, he also got multiple pictures of the tickets from multiple angles to make sure they were real.

But the scammer was convincing.

He sent a mailing tracking number, and he even had the UPS store confirm the package was being mailed.

"He actually three-wayed in the store he went to to have the store confirm that this was indeed a real package and that he was there," Robinson said.

But that store soon called back.

"Less than 20 minutes later, the store owner called me back and said, 'This seems fishy, you mentioned Super Bowl tickets.'"

With several approvals, the store owner opened the package. Inside were blank business cards and paper.

Police in Texas are now investigating.

They have the package, and were able to get surveillance of the suspect and his license plate information.

Robinson has filed claims and is hoping for an arrest so that others don't fall prey.

In the meantime, they're making the best of it.

"This won't be resolved before the Super Bowl, so we're still going to go down to Atlanta," Robinson said. "We're going to make the best of it. We're going to party with all of our Pats fans, but we're not going to be able to go to the game at this point."

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