Everyone who has ever bought tickets to a show or concert knows Ticketmaster. It is the number one source of tickets in the US.
But if you do a Google search forTicketmaster, be careful what you pull up.
Googles for Tickets
Belinda Johnson was looking for concert tickets, so she got on her phone and did a search.
"When the site came up it looked official," Johnson said, "so I thought I was on the Ticketmaster site."
So she went ahead and bought tickets to see Maroon 5 in concert this fall.
Only problem: the site she had landed on wasn't really Ticketmaster at all. Instead it was a site called "Master Tickets Center," that looked almost identical to the well-known site.
But there was one big difference: the $80 Maroon 5 tickets were $147 each on the lookalike site.
"I ended up paying 90 percent more for these tickets," Johnson said.
Master Ticket Center, according to the Better Business Bureau has been around for only 6 months, and already has 4 complaints.
Its location, according to the BBB, is a Post Office box in a UPS Store in Brooklyn, New York.
"I don't understand how people can get away with this," she said.
But Master Ticket is a third party ticket seller, and unless it violates Ticketmaster's logo copyrights, or is selling counterfeit tickets, it is perfectly legal.
Beware Lookalike Sites
Unfortunately, for people like Johnson, it's a case of buyer beware.
Like other sites that use popular arena names in their title, you have to be very careful where you're buying from these days.
We tried reaching Master Ticket Center for comment, but no one returned our calls or email.
Bottom line: Check out a ticket website carefully before you make a purchase, because even if it is a shady operation there are no returns.
So don't waste your money.
