Fake ticket agents, tour operators in USA

Last updated on 10 May 2019

United States of America

Chicago, Honolulu, Los Angeles, New Orleans, New York City, San Francisco

How it works:

Set-up: there are many touts who pose as official ticket staff or tour agents. For instance, they wear a vest with the words “SJQ Sightseeing tours/Liberty Tours”.
Version 1: selling you a “ticket” to an attraction/ferry that is free to enter! E.g. Ferry to Staten Island, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Battery Park, etc.
Version 2: selling you a used ticket.
Version 3: charging more than the face value of the tickets.
Version 4: offering to help you get discounted tickets at the ticket office upstairs. After payment is collected, he disappears.
Version 5: claiming that there is a long queue and offering you a ticket to skip the queue. You find out later that there is no such ticket and no such queue.
Version 6: there are websites peddling fake tickets as well.

Places to beware:

Chicago: Soldier Field
Honolulu: USS Arizona Memorial, Pearl Harbor / WW II Valor in the Pacific National Monument, Hanauma Bay Nature Preserve, Aloha Pearl Harbor Tours
Los Angeles: Universal Studios Hollywood,Union Station
New York City: Empire State Building, Statue of Liberty, Broadway, Rockefeller Center, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Madison Square Garden, Battery Park
New Orleans: selling you a ticket to Mardi Gras, which is free
San Francisco: Alcatraz Island

What to do:

Only buy direct from company/official counters or licensed retailers.
Alternatively, day tour platforms like GetYourGuide (leading globally) has many bestselling tickets (e.g. Empire State Building, One World Observatory, 9/11 Memorial, etc).

Tell us your story

1 user story related to this scam

Battery Park ticket scammers

Rac 29 Apr 2017 2 1

I was walking towards battery park to get the ticket to the statue of liberty. There was those people with blue coat.

They asked me where we were going. I said it we are going to battery park to get the ticket to statue of liberty. She said the line is so long. I have to wait 3 hours just to get the ticket and 3 hours for the boat and she said for kids they require birth certificate to get the ticket.

It sounded very odd to me and I told them that that was not true because I have been there before and we didn’t need them. The lady said rules has changed. I actually believed them.

I asked her so if I take this tour will I be able to see the statue of liberty and Ellis Island. She said no. The boat will stop so that you can take a picture but you won’t be able to get in the island.

After asking the price which was almost 200$+ for one kid and two adult. I told her we will go wait in the line for 3 hours and if they ask for birth certificate we won’t go.

We went to battery park to get the ticket there was not even a long line. We asked the trooper if we need a birth certificate he said it was not needed. The total was 37$ to get the ticket for 3. Once we got our ticket after 30 minutes we were on our way to liberty island.

I still can’t believe I was almost scammed.

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