Last week, Sharon Osgood told the San Jose Mercury News she was disappointed that resale prices for tickets to Super Bowl XLVII were averaging more than three grand a pop. The Hayward, Calif., resident kept looking, and eventually she found someone on Craigslist who was offering four seats for $5,900—double face value, but still something of a bargain, all things considered. Osgood said she communicated for a week with dude, who said he was a Ravens season-ticket holder. She then wired money to his credit union. Shrewd move.

"On Monday, the highly anticipated package arrived—by FedEx. Instead of Super Bowl tickets, inside was a picture of quarterbacks Colin Kaepernick and Joe Flacco with a message underneath that read: "Enjoy the game!!!! Go Ravens!!! LOL." [...] The scam artist told the couple he was a corporate tax attorney living in Boca Raton, Fla., and his wife was eight months pregnant, which was why they couldn't go to the game themselves. "For a week I was on the phone with this guy," Osgood said. "That's the only reason why we" trusted him.


Osgood was surprisingly nonplussed for someone who just got gaffled out of nearly $6,000, saying she and her boyfriend and two other family members still planned to travel to New Orleans. Is she fibbing about getting scammed? We couldn't reach her to find out. If she is telling the truth, it's not like she should have been suspicious. The Craigslist ad, which has since been removed, was in all caps and contained several exclamation points. Craigslist also has a sitewide disclaimer that warns people not to wire money.

Update (6:29 p.m.): People took pity on her, so Osgood is getting six free tickets—four courtesy of Ticketmaster, two courtesy of the 49ers—plus breakfast with Troy Aikman.


[Mercury News]