#231. Peddling Real Tickets to Sporting Events

Ask yourself this question and the answer will be provided after a few seconds of deliberation: Where do Black people get all those tickets to scalp to people without tickets before seemingly every sporting event in the country?

Ready for answer? The tickets are fake, forgeries manufactured by brilliant con-artists who might be counted in the 34.5 percent of Black people who are unemployed, but who nonetheless "make bank" before sporting events peddling worthless pieces of paper to unsuspecting white people:

"Ticket resale is the act of reselling tickets for admission to events. Tickets are bought from licensed sellers and are then sold for a price determined by the individual or company in possession of the tickets.

Tickets sold through secondary sources may be sold for less or more than their face value depending on demand, which itself tends to vary as the event date approaches. When the supply of tickets for a given event available through authorized ticket sellers is depleted, the event is considered "sold out", generally increasing the market value for any tickets on offer through secondary sellers."

Black people are to be found in droves outside sporting events in nearly every major city, attempting to sell tickets to those deprived of seats to said event, even though those tickets are more often than not fake:

"We haven't seen too many counterfeit tickets this season. But, that typically happens for the highest demanded game of the year, which — this year — is USC," said Notre Dame Senior Assistant Athletic Director Josh Berlo.

It's one reason why Richard Gauthier and his son, Ryan, didn't take any chances.

Ryan flew in all the way from Las Vegas to meet his dad headed into town from Michigan's Upper Peninsula. It's a "reunion weekend" that began as a Christmas present last year. And the two say they didn't want to take any chances they might get burned by a scam.

"I didn't travel all this way to lose," said Ryan with a laugh.

"Tickets are really hard to get," agreed Richard.

"That's why I went right to StubHub and paid the extra money. It's a lot better sense of mind than getting a scalper ticket right about now," Ryan continued.

Interestingly, ticket counterfeiting has been called one of the largest growing areas of criminal activity in the United States:

"Technology has exacerbated the problem. "Counterfeiting of documents, including tickets, is the fastest growing crime in the United States," said Kirk Schulz, president of Premier Southern Ticketing in Cincinnati and an expert on document fraud."Bank robbers don't steal anything compared to document forgers."

And this is one market where Black people have displayed an incredible acumen in cornering, as engaging in criminal activity is nothing new to Black people and the prospects of jail time for offering a forged ticket to an eager buyer is just a fantastic real-life example of supply and demand.

How can one spot fake tickets? Chances are if a Black person is scalping them that they are fake.

Some great tips for those to lazy to buy tickets from a reputable source and in need of a quick fix before the big game:

"Not only that, but with recent advancements in technology, the fake tickets are getting much harder to spot. Photo quality printers, scanners, and stock paper have made it easier for fake ticket scalpers to fool customers — and occasionally even ticket handlers at sporting events.

With fake tickets getting more advanced every day, how can you be sure the ticket you are being offered on the street is legitimate? First, you should always be familiar with the appearance of the tickets at this particular sporting arena. Never buy a ticket off the street if it is your first time attending a game at a venue — you will have no knowledge of what the tickets should look like, which will make it easy for you to get ripped off by an unscrupulous ticket seller."

Could Black people just be the middle-men for a vast ticket conspiracy, the corporate face for an conglomerate of defrauders who lurk in the darkness to rob hardworking and unsuspecting people of their hard earned money? Doubtful, although this vast conspiracy of ticket counterfeiters does operate in every city where large sporting venues exist and gullible white people can be found to purchase the fake ticket.

(An interesting case study of Ticket Scalping is found here: notice how the Black people refuse to be interviewed).

But this problem isn't going away, for fake tickets offer a high yield investment for Black people hoping to make a quick buck in a scam more sound than the lottery, and they can find unsuspecting white people in virtually every corner of the nation:

"About 100 LSU football fans -- a record number -- bought phony tickets for Saturday's game against Florida, and university police are looking for the counterfeiter.

"They were very good replicas of real tickets," athletics spokesman Herb Vincent said. "To the average person on the street, it'd be incredibly hard to recognize."

Athletics officials don't know of a larger number at an LSU game, he said. "It's an unfortunate byproduct of being No. 1 in the country."

Big cities, small cities... no municipality is safe from the counterfeiting prowess of Black people and their incredible ability to barter these fake tickets in exchange for real money:

"Indianapolis police arrested three men during Sunday's Colts game on suspicion of selling fraudulent tickets to that event and being involved in a nationwide sports counterfeiting ring.The men, all from Atlanta, also sold fake tickets during the Super Bowl and were involved in a counterfeit-ticket operation that spanned several states and has become the focus of an FBI investigation, police said." (pictures of those men can be found here)

Again, where do all those Black people outside the stadiums in every city in America get these tickets? Through illegal methods, for Stuff Black People Don't Like includes peddling real tickets to sporting events, as manufacturing fake tickets and then selling them for major profit is one way that Black people put the "Black" in the black market.

Also, white people have been trained never to second guess Black people nor suspect them of any wrong doing, so the $4.5 billion dollar ticket resale industry can be counterfeited and cornered solely by Black people.