Canes fan warns others after being duped in online ticket scam

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- Alyssa Smith and her husband are big Carolina Hurricanes fans.

They were at PNC Arena in Raleigh two weeks ago and saw the Canes clinch their first playoff spot in a decade.

When the Hurricanes shut out the NHL champion Washington Capitals 5-0 on Monday night to stay alive in the series, the Durham couple decided they wanted to go to Thursday night's game.

So, Smith found seats on Craigslist. She was texting with the seller, who even sent her a picture of the tickets. She sent him $200 on Venmo but never got the tickets.

"I want to make sure that something like this doesn't happen to other people because I should have known better," Smith said. "And I'm somebody that doesn't easily fall for scams. But my will to go to the game and my love for the Carolina Hurricanes overpowered my logic at the moment, and I made that decision so I know that if this can happen to me, it'll happen to other people as well."

Hurricanes President and General Manager Don Waddell told us how you can make sure your tickets are the real deal.

"You've got to make sure, you're buying from a verified ticket source through Ticketmaster, Ticketmaster Exchange, some other verified ticket outlets," Waddell said. "But the biggest thing is, they've got to be selling you digital tickets. Everything, 99 percent of our tickets, are digital. The 1 other percent are hard-stock tickets through the box office. PDFs don't exist anymore."

Waddell said the ticket price could also be a red flag.

"If it's too good of a deal, it's probably not a deal at all," Waddell said.

He said 300 to 400 more tickets will be released for sale Thursday, likely between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. The game starts at 7 p.m.

Smith filed a police report with the Durham Police Department.

She was able to get her money back from Venmo but sadly, she'll likely have to miss Thursday's Game 4.

"I'm definitely sad that I'm not going to be able to go," Smith said. "We'll still try to look for tickets and see what we can find."