Kean students on guard due to ticket scam
By Timothy Awojobi and Sade Cox
After becoming aware of the ongoing sale of “bogus” tickets happening in and around Kean University, there was a mass emergency email sent out by Kean University Police on Oct.3 that alerted all students and faculty.
During the last couple of months, students were interrupted by strangers walking into their classrooms to lecture about information on how to purchase tickets at a discounted price. The tickets ranged from comedy shows, laser tag, and sports games.
“I knew there was something up when these people walked into my English class last semester,” said James Gillian, junior, English major. “A new person would literally come every week to discuss how we could “save” money” on tickets by purchasing the tickets from them instead of an outside ticket agency.”
Gillian said that on continuous occasions, random people would walk into the middle of an important lecture to rant on about buying tickets from them.
“There would be times when my professor would just roll his eyes and tell the person to leave,” said Gillian.
According to the e-mail sent by Kean University Police, the individuals would lie about being part of the University as representative, or better yet, part of a “private” ticket vending company.
The Director of Public Safety/Police, Adam Shubsda said the investigation started after a student alerted them about the ticket sales.
“We found out it was not legitimate. Handing out tickets for free is legitimate,” said Subsea. “If they are asking people money for those tickets, that’s fraud.”
Subsea said that the vendors weren’t allowed to “appear in classrooms and university buildings,” without the University’s permission.
Some students were skeptical about purchasing the tickets, like Jennifer Balenciaga, senior psychology major.
“I actually believed that these people were official vendors, trying to sell their company,” said Balenciaga. “I was almost ready to take out my credit card to purchase multiple tickets for myself and my friends, but something didn’t feel right.”
She thanks intuition for not purchasing the ticket.
“You know that saying, if you have a gut feeling about something, it’s probably true,” said Balenciaga.
According to Kean University Campus Police, the perpetrators selling the discounted tickets would personally receive a “cut” from each ticket sold. The main objective was to lie about “free admission” into certain venues, in order for them to carry out their initiative plan with the tickets.
Giovanni Palomas, junior biology major, said that his friend fell victim to the scam two semesters ago.
“One of my closest friends purchased a ticket for a comedy show at a discounted price, than what the actual event was selling them for. On the date of the show, he was alerted last minute that show had been cancelled,” said Palomas. “He wasn’t able to receive his refunded amount immediately due to the fact that he had paid with his credit card. Even up until now, he hasn’t received his full refunded amount yet.”
Kean University Police & Public Safety warned the public about being on the lookout for any more suspicious activity. It was also stated that this same activity has been present on other campuses around New Jersey.
“Thank God I didn’t fall victim to this crap. My professors didn’t even open the door for any vendors or outside people while class was in session,” said Nicole Berry, senior accounting major.
When reached for comment, University Relations could not be reached at the moment. All students/faculty members are warned to stay alert and if any questions/concerns to immediately contact campus police at 908-737-4800.