NBA All-Star Game tickets scam sees Lehi woman lose $1,000: All you need to know about it

The 2023 NBA All-Star Game in Salt Lake City, Utah is set to take place this Sunday. Tickets are in very high demand and have reportedly been sold out for over a week, with some going for over $12,000.

This has led some fans to grow increasingly desperate to find secondhand ticket deals. It has also presented a prime opportunity for scammers to take advantage of fans’ desperation. This was the case for one woman from Lehi, Utah named Jenny Williams, who lost $1,000 due to a ticket scam.

Williams attempted to use KSL Classifieds to try and find two tickets to the game for her son and daughter.

“My daughter and son really wanted to go to the NBA All-Star Game,” Williams said.

Someone had listed two seats for $1000. So Williams decided to try and buy the tickets directly from the seller to avoid fees which would have amounted to nearly $400.

“The fees are just ridiculous,” Williams said.

Williams proceeded to send the seller the $1000 through a money transfer app. However, once the money was sent through, she never heard back from him.

“Yep, never heard from him again, once we had the money,” Williams said.

Looking back, Williams explained that she should have seen the warning signs that she was being scammed.

“He was just really pushy and making us feel like we had to buy them right away because all these people were looking at the tickets,” Williams said.

Despite learning her lesson, Williams added that she couldn’t afford to buy legitimate tickets for her son and daughter after losing $1,000.

“I was sick to my stomach. Just losing that much money and then knowing we couldn’t afford to buy tickets after losing that much money,” Williams said.

For more on Jenny Williams’ NBA All-Star Game tickets scam, click here.

Utah Jazz give NBA All-Star Game tickets to fan scammed out of $1,000

Luckily for Jenny Williams, her story has a happy ending. Following the news that she was scammed out of $1,000 for fake NBA All-Star Game tickets, the Utah Jazz intervened. According to Matt Gephardt of KSL-TV, on Thursday the Jazz decided to give Williams two free tickets to the game.

So despite the hassle and subsequent disappointment, Williams’ son and daughter will still be able to attend Sunday’s game after all.