With tickets in high demand for tonight’s ACC-Big Ten Challenge basketball game between No. 10 Indiana and No. 18 North Carolina, that means buyers should be on the lookout when searching for tickets online.
The game has been highly anticipated since it was announced this summer that last season’s NCAA runner-ups would be visiting Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall. As of Tuesday, the cheapest ticket on StubHub was $225 for Section E, Row 29. Coupled with convenience fees, the final price would be around $300. Floor tickets are as high as $2,699.
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With high-demand ticket prices, some who were unable to get student tickets opted for another avenue to get tickets: IU student ticket-selling group chats.
Melia Thakker, an IU student, has been buying tickets in a group chat for the past two years. She said had no issue finding a ticket for Wednesday’s game. Or at least she thought so.
“I texted the GroupMe I was like, I need a ticket for this game,” Thakker said. “Here's my phone number, please reach out if you have a ticket looking for an affordable price.”
But because these tickets are in such demand, students are experiencing a new problem in the group chats - scammers. Thakker thought that since the person who reached out had an iMessage number and carried on a conversation that they were legitimate.
“Then I paid them and then they just stopped responding,” Thakker said.
After the first ticket fell through, Thakker tried to buy another ticket through the group chat. After some back and forth, the seller stopped responding to her. And even though the exchanges were through Venmo, Thakker had no luck getting her money back.
“Let me request it back, they declined it right away,” Thakker said. “And then right away, they deleted their account.”
Thakker said it’s frustrating not being able to get her money back because, without a Venmo account or any other contact information, there is no way to track down scammers.
“It’s fine if you can't give me the ticket, please just give me my money back,” Thakker said. “Like we're all broke college students, why are you scamming us off?”
The Indiana University Athletics Ticket Office has not responded to a request for comment. Tickets for the game are not available on IU Athletics Website, but are still available on regulated resale sites like StubHub.
Tonight’s game tips off at 9:15 on ESPN. The last time the two programs played was on Nov. 30, 2016, at Assembly Hall, when Indiana defeated UNC, 76-67.
