By Tim Clifford

With two pre-season games in the can and the hotly anticipated regular season set to kick off on September 13 it was only a matter of time before the horror stories of the “12th Man” being taken by ticket scammers began rolling in. This past weekend the King County Sheriff’s Office issued a warning to fans about online ticket scams and related the story of a recent arrest made in Seattle.

Earlier this month Tacoma resident Justin Stevens, 19, listed his tablet on the website Offerup.com in exchange for tickets to a Seahawks game. He was contacted by a 32-year-old man, the suspect, who told him he had tickets he would be willing to trade. They arranged to meet in Seattle.

After Stevens traded the man his tablet for the tickets the suspect then threw out the offer that for an additional $35 he would throw in an extra ticket. Excitedly Stevens accepted the offer and drove back home with the tickets. Once at home he realized that something didn’t feel right. The deal seemed much too good to be true.

After contacting the Seahawks ticket sales office directly Stevens learned that the tickets in his possession had been stolen. He next called the King County Sheriff’s Office and gave them the name and number of the suspect as well as the Offerup.com listing. From there the KCSO set up an undercover trade with the suspect for more stolen tickets and arrested him when he appeared at the meeting site on Aug. 20.

According to Det. Michael Glasgow with the KCSO in Burien the suspect told detectives that he received the stolen tickets from his drug dealer. The tickets were traced back as having been purchased by McDonalds, but specifically for whom is still a mystery.

“The tickets were real but stolen. The suspect does not know, or just wouldn’t tell us, how/where his drug dealer got the tickets. I am still working on identifying who the actual owners of the tickets are,” he said.

According to Glasgow and the Sheriff’s Office fans should only buy tickets from legitimate vendors and be wary of any online sales of Seahawks tickets.

While the tickets in this instance were real another scam that is prevalent each year is the sale of fake or counterfeit tickets. Confirming the information on the ticket with a legitimate vendor is the best way to avoid being taken by this scam.

“If a person is going to buy a ticket from a stranger they could call Ticket Master or the Seahawks’ (or whatever the ticket is for) customer service. They should be able to confirm the information on the ticket,” he explained.

In short this season stay away from deals that seem too good to be true. True, fans will definitely have to pay a higher price when going through the ticket exchange on the Seahawks website or through Ticketmaster but at least they will be assured that a seat is actually waiting for them. For more information visit either seahawks.com or Ticketmaster for purchasing tickets to this season’s games.