'Hamilton' Ticket Scammers Abound, Rhode Island AG Warns

Hamilton fever has hit Rhode Island. Ahead of August's national tour engagement at the Providence Performing Arts Center, thousands of fraudulent tickets have been found online, Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha warned residents. The AG is cracking down on ticket resale scams in the state, Neronha's office announced Thursday.

Resale ticket sites often have vastly inflated prices, Neronha said, leading to consumers paying several times what the ticket is worth. Worse than markups are speculative tickets, which are event tickets listed on resale sites even though they haven't actually been purchased yet. During their investigation, the AG's office found more than 4,000 speculative tickets worth a total of at least $214,000 listed on resale ticket websites.

"Deceptive practices in the ticket resale market – like speculative ticket sales – confuse and rip off consumers, often inflating prices and not delivering what was paid for," Neronha said. "Our investigation revealed that consumers who purchased speculative tickets to Hamilton paid, on average, $479 per ticket, while the average price of those tickets from the venue was approximately $145. More broadly, inflated ticket prices prohibit hardworking Rhode Islanders from getting to see these in-demand performances."

The investigation is ongoing, but three online ticket sellers—Venue Kings Ticket Brokers, Front Row Tickets and National Tixx—will be barred from selling "inadequately disclosed" speculative tickets following a settlement in Providence Superior Court on Wednesday. If a seller is found to have made a fraudulent sale, he or she will face penalties and may lost they ability to sell tickets online.

Several ticket sales power players including Ticketmaster and StubHub were part of the AG's investigation. Both expressly forbid speculative ticket sales in their terms of use and agreed to take the following steps to help prevent the practice on their sites:

• Offered full refunds to Rhode Island consumers who had purchased inadequately disclosed speculative tickets
• Removed hundreds of speculative ticket listings for events at Rhode Island venues
• Sanctioned ticket sellers found to have listed or sold speculative tickets in Rhode Island

"We are not just talking about the theater. We are seeing this practice with basketball games, concerts, and more. Ensuring fair conduct in this economic market is important because it is a gateway to performing arts, cultural events, and professional and college sports, all of which matter greatly to our state," Neronha said. "My Office will continue to monitor future conduct and pursue legal action when necessary to protect Rhode Island consumers."