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Family Falls Victim To Craigslist Ticket Scam

DENVER (CBS4) - At just 13-years-old, Torriah has big dreams of playing basketball for Notre Dame.

"I'm going to be their star post when I go there. I'm going to get a scholarship," she told CBS4.

At 5-foot-11, Torriah plays year-round basketball and is well on her way to achieving her goal. So when the women's basketball team from Notre Dame came to Denver for the Final Four, Torriah and her family were ecstatic.

Torriah's mom, Mari, went on Craigslist to buy tickets to the NCAA finals. She found a package for Sunday's semi-finals and Tuesday's final games. She called the 800 number listed on the add, and talked to someone who called himself a broker. He took her credit card number over the phone and told her the tickets would be at Will Call.

"We get there, go to Will Call, I go to the window and he looks through his little box and says, 'Nope, nothing yet,' " Mari explained.

They waited an hour until after the game has started, and they kept checking at Will Call.

"A customer service gentleman came out and said that he'd looked in the section that we were supposed to be sitting in and all of the seats were filled," Mari said.

When they got home, her husband checked their bank account online and a charge for more than $1,800 was made at a Lowe's Home Improvement store in Texas. Mari's bank blocked the transaction, as well as a charge for airline tickets. The fraudulent charges and the inconvenience were maddening, but for Mari the hardest part was explaining to her young basketball prodigy that she wasn't going to get to go to the game.

"Just the disappointment that I experienced, I wouldn't want anyone else to have that," Mari said.

There are risks of scams and counterfeit tickets when dealing with Craigslist. To be sure that you're getting the tickets you pay for, here are some top ticket selling sites:

-- Ticketmaster.com

-- StubHub.com

-- Eventbrite.com

-- Tickets.com

-- TicketsNow.com

RELATED: More Reports By 4 On Your Side Consumer Investigator Jodi Brooks

- Written for the Web by CBS4 Special Projects Producer Libby Smith

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