As this city of Cleveland gets pumped up for game 4 of the NBA finals, there are criminals preying on that excitement. Scammers have been caught selling fake tickets to fans eager to get into the game.
Micheal Lamparyk caught the guy who scammed him, selling him counterfeit game 3 tickets, on his cell phone camera.
The man even claims in the video that the tickets are legit.
"The tickets are legit. They are 100% legit and we are making a fair exchange at this time," he says.
Lamparyk told NewsChannel 5 the man offered to be filmed, just to convince him he wasn't being scammed, but he said, the whole time, he knew something was wrong.
"He showed me the tickets and I was like there is no print on the back. There was the Q logo, I said I don't know if they are real. He said they are real," Lamparyk said.
He said he wishes he would have gone with his gut, but the video he shot led the police right to the guy who ripped him off; Harvey Nelson.
Nelson and two other scammers, Melissa Martin and Mason Wein were arrested.
Sue McConnell, the president of the Better Business Bureau, said Lamparyk's story isn't unusual; scalpers online, and right on these streets, can't always be trusted.
"You need to buy your tickets from legit brokers and retailers, so that you can be assured you have a real ticket! And when they get to the gate, they'll let you in," she said.
NewsChannel 5 checked in with the Cavs. A spokeswoman said most of their tickets are sold through their website, or flash seats- and those are the only tickets they can guarantee.
