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Ticket scammers targeting Salt Lake City Nutcracker theater-goers

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SALT LAKE CITY — Recently, a few people have been scammed as they were trying to buy tickets to William Christensen's The Nutcracker in downtown Salt Lake City.

"Go direct. Don't try and do it online. I thought I was going direct, just called the theater," said Margo Cowley, who was scammed.

As holiday festivities continue, Ballet West is telling visitors it’s safest to buy tickets from their website.

"I thought that was expensive, but I thought it was because it was Nutcracker at Christmas. That's probably why they were and they were pretty good tickets so I didn't give it a lot more thought," said Cowley.

Going to William Christensen's The Nutcracker is something many enjoy every Christmas.

"All the families that come in are so excited. This is an annual tradition for so many families. Kids, we like to say of all ages, they're coming every year. They're so excited when they walk into the lobby," said Andrew Goldberg, the senior director of external affairs for Ballet West.

Cowley shared that she thought she was purchasing valid seats from gotickets.com but one day got an unusual call after she paid.

"I said, 'I feel like you're scamming me,' so I called Ballet West and discussed it with them, and she told me I have been scammed," said Cowley.

Better Business Bureau Mountain West advises buying from the venue if you can.

"Whether it's an arena theater or just you know anything, going to the venue could be the safest option," said Melani Fox, the director of communications for the BBB Mountain West.

Ballet West has been made aware of the ticket scams; they encourage those who want to make it to a show to purchase directly from their site.

"I think the most important thing is to go directly to balletwest.org because if you don't, you do risk going to a search engine and putting in a search, and you might come up with results that are not our website because these third-party tickets sellers are very sophisticated," said Goldberg. "They have great looking websites that look often better than our website and they show up higher in the searches."

The BBB recommends double-checking any website, especially before using personal information.

"In the URL, making sure it says https, and the 's' stands for 'secure,'" said Fox.

The experts, as well as the unfortunate recipient of the hoax, want to spread awareness about possible scams.

"Because the third-party ticket sellers are scamming a lot of people, and they wanted me to go on record which I am willing to do to try to help other people," said Cowley.

They hope you can make it to the show, with real, valid tickets this holiday season.