ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (WKBW) — With only four home games remaining in the Buffalo Bills' farewell season at Highmark Stadium, tickets are becoming increasingly scarce and expensive. This scarcity has created opportunities for scammers targeting desperate fans on social media platforms.
I recently experienced this firsthand while searching for tickets for when the Cincinnati Bengals come to town. What started as a routine search on Facebook quickly revealed the dangers lurking in online ticket exchanges.
The "Buffalo Bills Ticket Exchange" Facebook group appeared legitimate at first glance. With more than 3,000 members and promises of "real fans posting real tickets" with "admins verifying buyers and sellers," the group appeared trustworthy.
When I contacted an admin named Cindy for help finding seats, the conversation initially felt normal. She provided quick replies, clear instructions, and even sent what appeared to be a screenshot of two available seats.
However, closer inspection revealed red flags. The ticket image showed section, row and seat grid lines that didn't align properly — appearing slanted and warped, suggesting the image had been edited or stolen from elsewhere.
"If you do some digging into the actual posts and who is posting, there are some red flags to look out for," Upstate New York Better Business Bureau Communications Director Katarina Schmieder said.
The biggest warning sign came when discussing payment. When I asked about using Venmo, Cindy refused, insisting on Zelle or Chime — two platforms where transactions cannot be disputed or reversed once sent.
"If someone is requesting payment through one of those nontraditional methods or through a peer-to-peer payment app, that's also a red flag, and I wouldn't go through with that purchase," Schmieder said.
WATCH: Beware of scams as tickets to Buffalo Bills games at Highmark Stadium become scarce, more expensive
Further investigation into Cindy's Facebook profile revealed more suspicious activity. The same admin appeared in ticket groups for almost every NFL team, not just the Bills.
Many profiles in these groups had minimal followers and likes, with most accounts created recently.
"If you click on that user's profile, you see they only have 10 likes and 12 followers," Schmieder noted.
Familiar names like "Peter" appeared across multiple NFL cities offering season tickets. Most of these groups were created just before this season started.
"If you see an offer that seems low or too good to be true, I would consider that suspicious as well," Schmieder said.
When I requested the phone number tied to the Zelle account and called it, no one answered.
When asked about potential suspicious activity, Cindy responded, within seconds, with a lengthy message denying any scamming activity. She stopped responding following the message.
Meta, Facebook's parent company, did not respond to requests for comment about how these groups continue operating or whether they're aware of scammers using their platform.
"Bottom line is, if you're shopping for Bills tickets on social media, you run the risk of being scammed," Schmieder said.
The Better Business Bureau recommends taking extra steps to verify anyone you're dealing with is legitimate, especially when purchasing high-demand tickets for the Bills' historic final season at their current stadium.
Schmieder recommends reporting scams to their office using an online portal.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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