I Got Scammed for $300 Buying Universal Studios Tickets. Here's How to Avoid Being Scammed Yourself.

While in Florida over the Christmas break.

My oldest brother: "Hey, you guys should go to Universal Studios while you're in Orlando."

Me: "Naw, man, it's too expensive. You know how much those tickets are? They're over $100 each!!"

My oldest brother: "I never pay full price. There are lots of people online who sell tickets. You can get them for close to half off."

He then proceeds to explain how you can look on Craigslist or apps like Letgo and others and find people selling their tickets.

I go online and, sure enough, I see lots of people selling tickets. I've used Letgo before, so I opened the app, and messaged one of the people.

His account name was Diamond.

I kid you not.

I should have stopped there, but I kept going. As a preface, I should say that I've bought and sold quite a few things using Craiglist and apps like Letgo and have never had any problems.

Ok, back to the story.

I tell him how many tickets I'm needing and he gives me the price: $300. He told me this includes what's called Express Pass, which lets you go to the head of the line. The total value of 4 tickets with Express Pass is about $1,000.

He says I can send the money using the app of my choice and then he'll send an email with a confirmation code and the electronic tickets.

I look up to my brother: "Is this legit? Have you ever had any problems?"

My oldest brother: "Oh, it's fine. This is how it works. Yeah, we've never had any problems before."

Me: "Ok, I'm going to go ahead and send the money."

I first tried sending the money using the Cash app, but it wouldn't let me. I should have taken that as a sign.

I then tried with PayPal.

Click.

Swoosh.

Digital funds were being sent his way.

Now Diamond, the scammer, comes back into the story: "It says pending."

Me: "Oh, ok, I'm sure it will just take a few minutes. You can go ahead and send the tickets over. I can send you a confirmation, if you like, that I actually sent the money."

He soon stopped communicating.

My heart sank. I felt nervous. I kept staring at my email and refreshing the app, but no response.

This couldn't be happening to me.

I had told my wife and boys that we were going to Universal that day; that I just needed to work out getting the tickets.

I tried not to freak out. In the back of my mind, I figured that PayPal would help me get my money back. I hoped in that direction, anyway, to calm myself.

Should I have stopped at that point? Possibly. But my sister had tragically died a week earlier and just two days prior we had the memorial service. We were all still very emotional and felt we really needed the distraction and fun that a place like Universal Studios could provide.

So I found someone else online, this time on Craigslist. I messaged him. He gave me his number to call. We spoke on the phone. He sounded very professional, which made me feel better. He said he had extra tickets and that we could pay him once we get into the park. I asked him if the tickets would have our names on them and he said yes.

My second attempt at getting tickets was now on. I was due to meet with this guy the next morning, outside a restraurant by the park.

The next morning. The guy pulls up in his car and he gets out.

Scammer #2: "Ok, hey, guys! So I just want to give a little bit of an orientation to how this will work. These are some important details that you need to make sure to remember. You guys are going in on day 3 of a multi-day pass. When you go into the park, they will scan your finger. The light will turn red and it will not accept your fingerprint. They will ask you, 'were you here yesterday' and you must answer yes. They will try a second time and it will still not work."

He continued rambling out very specific instructions.

Scammer #2: "Now this is very important: when they ask, you must tell them that you came in on a bus."

All the while I'm thinking to myself, "this is so shady. This is weird. They're wanting us to lie?"

But things got weirder.

He then turned to our kids.

Scammer #2: "Ok, the oldest one, your name will be Alex. That's the name on the ticket already. So when they ask your name. You need to tell them Alex. Do you understand? What's your name supposed to be?"

My son: "Um, Alex?"

Scammer #2: "Yeah, you got it! Good. It's no problem. Ok, and your brother. His name needs to be...Um...I forgot. Let me go back to the car to see the name."

As he began walking to his car, I looked at my wife. We both started shaking our heads. "I don't feel comfortable with this," she said. "Yeah, I don't feel comfortable either," I responded.

As he walked back to us.

Me: "I'm sorry, but I don't feel comfortable with this. I'm not going to lie."

Scammer #2: "Ok, no problem. I have a long list of people who are willing to take those tickets. Have a good day."

He drove off.

I entered my car.

We were in shock. I couldn't believe they were wanting us to lie and to get our children involved in lying!

A quick pause.

Lying is wrong for everyone. Don't do it. Especially if you're a Christian, though—don't do it. The Bible is very clear about lying. It's one of the commandments! Ok, and now me: I'm a pastor. If it's wrong for Christians to lie, it's especially wrong for a pastor, a leader, to lie, right?

My wife and I made a decision since we had gotten to this point already. We were still going to Universal Studios, but we'd need to pay full price at the door. We had no other choice.

Yes, it's was expensive. It was a little over $1,000 as I expected. But it was worth it to teach my sons a lesson: that you never, under any circumstance, even if it will make your life seemingly easier—you never lie.

That's what happened to us.

So what lessons did I learn through this?

1. Although there are some ways to get some slightly discounted tickets online, most of them are scammers

Or, you have to lie in order to get the tickets. Don't do it. Your personal integrity, and the example you give your family, is worth infinitely more than that. Just go straight to the official website and buy the tickets. I think they give a 10% discount that way.

2. Don't send money to people online

If someone does have a legitimate item to sell you, meet them in person. This is a best practice for buying things online.

3. Always meet in a public place. This goes without saying

4. Always document the transaction somehow

I had been dialoguing with the Scammer #1 via the Letgo app. It was all there. He was going to give me the tickets if I sent him the money. Every detail was documented.

The same evening that scammer #1 failed to send the tickets over, I filed a claim with PayPal. The good thing about PayPal is that they offer a Buyer Protection Guarantee.

I opened a claim and stated my case. It takes several weeks for the whole process to go through. They give an opportunity for both parties to respond and state their cases. The seller never responded. PayPal decided in my favor and I just got the money back.

A little sidenote about Universal Studios
Pay extra for the Express Pass. It's expensive, no doubt. But it's definitely worth it. We entered the park around 9:30 am and went straight to the closest ride called Despicable Me Minion Mayhem. The park had just been opened for 30 minutes and there was already an 80-minute wait for that ride. But because we had the Express Pass, we went into the other line and just waited about 10 minutes.

As a result, we were able to go to every single ride we wanted to go on and repeated a few. Otherwise, we would just have been able to go on about half of the rides, due to the long wait times.

So what do you think? Have you ever been scammed before? What did you do? Any tips to avoid being scammed that you'd add to the list? Let me know in the comments below.

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