Please don't buy a fake SDCC badge

26 JUNE 2018

When you want a badge to San Diego Comic-Con, you naturally see yourself as a hunter. A badge is the skittish deer that may or may not come into your crosshairs during Open Registration. And if it doesn't, you may consider buying one from the many ads on Craiglist, StubHub, Offer Up and other sites.

Scalpers have always sold off SDCC badges, both real and fake, but this year it seems to be a cottage industry. So many ads for badges! Prices vary; and I have it on good authority that the sellers who can vouch for themselves and sell in person can command the highest $$$. I think there's a growing perception that you can buy your way into Comic-Con, as long as you have a reasonable social network and a healthy bank account.

In that scenario, it's still natural to feel like you're the hunter. Here's the thing, though, you're not. You're the deer and it's your head that could wind up mounted as a trophy in some scalper's metaphorical game room.

I'm not going to lie: I do know people who've bought badges to Comic-Con and did so successfully. I'm not going to pretend it never works. But I also know people who've been scammed and some of them have heartbreaking stories. (Like the couple that blew a small fortune on airfare/hotel only to arrive and be turned away or the high school kid who literally spent his entire savings on a badge that wasn't real.)

CCI has shared their usual warnings about international crime rings, VIP/guest/"my friend works in Hollywood" badges and fraudulent brokers who pretend to be a CCI affiliate. Don't fall for any of that. You will be taken for a ride. And no matter what scenario you stumble across, there are compelling reasons you're taking a risk.

• If it's a fake badge, you're out of luck (and your money.)

• If it's a real badge, but CCI managed to identify the seller and deactivate the badge, you're still out of luck/money.

• If someone asks you for ID in the convention center, you're screwed. I know everyone says this doesn't happen but several of my friends have been forced to prove their driver's license matched their badge.

• If you're working with a professional scalper, you're feeding a black market that's unfair to legitimate attendees. I know some of you think CCI has raised badge prices too often - but you only have to look at other Cons, where a single "experience" can cost more than an entire SDCC badge, to realize the cost is reasonable. CCI has made it clear they don't want SDCC to be restricted to the wealthy.

• If you get caught, you can get banned from Comic-Con.

I know some of you will send me haughty emails announcing your successful back alley/online badge transaction. Good for you. But I think people ought to know that there are risks involved - and that they can increase their odds of safely getting a badge for 2019 (50th anniversary!) by making friends in the online community and working with them in the badge sale.

And by that, I mean you can always email me about next year, read other blogs, join the Friends of Comic-Con forum and get yourself educated and connected. The summer of 2019 will be here before you know it - so don't blow your money on some half-assed badge fraud this year. It's not worth it.

It's Comic-Con Scam Season!

22 JUNE 2017

You know San Diego Comic-Con is almost here when talk turns to scammers, con artists and thieves. Capitalizing on the thirst for Con badges is an old tradition and a profitable one. The game has changed along with badge sales and pick-up methods, but what stays the same is this: people losing their money without setting foot inside Comic-Con.

CCI blogged about fake badges today, a post everyone should read. Here's the gist of it:

• Only badges procured through CCI are legit.
• Counterfeit badges can look very convincing. Apparently the international game is strong on this one.
• Badges sold on Ebay, StubHub or other "secondary markets" are voided.  
• CCI security does spot checks to make sure you have the ID to match your badge.

What I will add: scammers steal social media photos of badges with names on them - and if CCI sees those, they void the badge. People have been warned about this for a year now but they're still posting badges with their names showing.



Can you buy a badge from a scalper?

Yes but you shouldn't. I know I'll get my usual wave of irritated emails telling me scalped badges are fine and I don't know what I'm talking about, but there are some good reasons not to buy from a scalper:

1) You're encouraging a toxic pattern where more and more scalpers fill the badge sales*, getting a bigger share of available badges to sell at wildly marked-up prices - hurting attendees (like you) trying to get a badge.
2) Scalpers won't hesitate to screw you over just like they're trying to screw CCI. Your Rick Grimes badge could be fake.
3) If you do get checked for ID and can't produce the right one, you may eliminate your chances of going to SDCC ever again.
4) CCI is against it. They don't want badges being resold.
5) While getting a badge legitimately is difficult, you can increase your chances by getting active in the SDCC community and working with a group. And then you can reallocate that extra $1-2K on a swank room at the Marriott Marquis.
6) You can go to other Cons that are just as fun while you wait for the 2018 badge sale.



I'm a realist; I know that people are desperate to go to SDCC and if they can afford to drop a small fortune on a Preview Night badge, some nebulous code of honor isn't going to stop them. I also know plenty of scalpers are operating offline to avoid the CCI Black Ops Task Force.** So go ahead and continue sending me your smug emails about the great badge you just bought on Craigslist where you actually saw the confirmation email. You may indeed have bought a real badge and you'll probably have a great time at the Con. But I guarantee some of you are getting taken for a ride.



* CCI and other people say the high demand for badges makes it hard for scalpers to prevail. I say: do the math. Let's say 100 scalpers got picked last year in Open Reg 2016, getting 3 badges apiece. (I don't know the real number but I heard of quite a few people being approached by scalpers or doing business with them.) That gave them 300 opportunities in Returning Reg this year. Assuming at least 200 of those got into either RR or Open Reg, and got 3 badges apiece, now that's 600 spots they have for the next Returning Reg and 900 for the next and so on. You get the idea: even if it's a "small" number of scalpers, they're still taking badges away from rightful attendees for their own profit.

**not its real name

The badge scam game has changed this year

23 JUNE 2016

It's that time of year when CCI reminds everyone not to buy fake SDCC badges - or to put it more bleakly, to surrender all hope of attending Comic-Con if they don't have a badge already.

But as you know, the RFID badges have changed the scam game a bit this year and that means people may be more willing to take a risk. Let's review.

Traditionally, scalpers either:

1) printed up a fake badge and sold it to you
2) stood in line, got their badge and sold it to you
3) realized you had never been to Comic-Con and sold you a bill of goods about picking up a badge under a certain name or some other scenario omitting the need for a photo ID



Now our flashy new RFID badges are flying around the country in generic white envelopes, changing the time-honored tradition of standing in line to get your badge. (At least for Americans. International attendees will pick theirs up in person still and show ID.) Scalpers know it and the smarter ones have lined up buyers through in-person efforts to avoid CCI's task force that monitors Ebay, StubHub, Craigslist and other sites. So can you buy a scalped badge - or sell one for that matter?


Answer: It's possible, and some people undoubtedly have, but overall it's risky and you shouldn't.

First of all, you have no way of verifying the badge is real. Confirmations can easily be faked. CCI says they're seeing "a huge increase" in international brokers selling counterfeit badges. And even if it is real, CCI can turn it off remotely, rendering it nothing more than a Walking Dead-themed souvenir. There's also the possibility of getting spot-checked by security and asked to prove its your badge (this has happened to people I know so it's not that rare.) CCI will block you from SDCC if they catch you in some kind of badge fraud.

If you're determined to go to SDCC, this probably hasn't persuaded you against buying a scalped badge. But you should really calculate the odds on pulling it off before you hand over your cash.

More details on SDCC badge shipping

18 FEBRUARY 2016




Today's Toucan post provides a mostly complete explanation of how we'll receive our new RFID badges. I won't rehash it but on the topic of yesterday's unsettling news about them NOT replacing the badges not sent on by your buyer, this is worth quoting: "Badges undelivered for any reason (moved/my neighbor stole them/postman delivered to wrong address/abducted by aliens) can be replaced onsite."

So it sounds like if you call CCI with a tale of buyer woe - your close online chum bought you a badge then says they shipped it to you and you never got it and now you think they're a black market agent - they can check that your badge was delivered to the buyer and say, "Too bad. We did our part." But if their end of it does go awry, they'll replace the badge onsite.

Maybe there's some wiggle room; maybe there will be so few buyer badge mishaps that they'll quietly take pity on people and replace their badges after all. Who knows. Still a good idea to proceed cautiously with who you entrust your Comic-Con 2016 destiny to.

(And on a personal note - while it's rare that stuff gets lost in the mail, it does happen. I'm currently missing a Republic of Tea package that apparently vanished into thin air, and the company had to ship a replacement. This was through USPS and was tracked at every stop. So it can happen.)

Oh, and CCI also addressed our scalper fears: basically they've found that most scalping revolves around counterfeit badges (which we knew) and they think the difficulty of buying a badge at all will deter rampant scalping activity. I still predict we'll see people in the mix who are eager to make a few extra thousand if they can - why not, it's a Saturday morning, no real investment if they don't get badges - but how many will there be? Let's hope not too many.

My Open Reg advice in a bit.

The mating call of the Comic-Con scammer

9 MAY 2015



A lot of people who don't know any better think going to Comic-Con is like going to a stadium show; they can just show up in the vicinity and a sketchy-looking guy in sunglasses will be waving physical badges over his head and calling out to the crowd. And they believe that the digital equivalent of those people can be found on Craigslist.

It doesn't work like that, of course. Badges have names and days printed on them, and must be picked up with a photo ID. Sometimes guards stop you and ask to see your ID to make sure it matches the name on your badge. But there's no quick way to know this if you've never been to SDCC, so Craigslist keeps filling up with offers - and people keep answering them.

Here's a rogue's gallery of scammers and the lines they'll feed you.


I got a full Preview Night badge but now I can't go this year, so I have to sell my badge. '

Anyone can request a badge refund up until 15 June. And if they're so busy, overworked or out of town, why are they able to go retrieve the badge in person?

I just need your name and address and I can transfer the badge to you.

CCI doesn't transfer badges. Any badges bought will be waiting under the name of the person who bought them, and only a photo ID with that name will work.

I'll just give you the name it's under and you can say you're me.

See above. Photo ID is required.

As soon you pay, I'll mail out the badge.

No one gets an advance badge. Everyone has to pick them up on site. Anyone who pretends to already have a badge in their possession - and I've seen some laughable fakes already on Craigslist - is a vile liar.

I have 5 one-day badges, 3 two-day badges, 4 weekend badges, and 2 four-day badges.

No one refers to a "two-day badge" or "weekend badge." They're just trying to sound legit by presenting several options.

This isn't an attendee badge, it's a special industry all-access badge because my friend works in the industry. You just have to go to this special guest badge desk and pick it up.

You will see some true guest badge offers online, so this one is dicey. However, because it's so hard to disprove until you're actually there in the convention center lobby, being told that no, there is no badge waiting for your name, a lot of scammers tell this story. If you do find someone who seems to be the real deal, check him or her out as deeply as you can.

(And for a different kind of scam: those of you who are going the Airbnb route know not to make any wire transfers, right?)


If you are desperately seeking a badge to San Diego Comic-Con right now, my heart goes out to you - I understand how panicked you might feel as we get closer and closer. And let me be clear, it's not just neophytes who are looking to get a badge through dodgy means. I know a family who got badges for both parents and one child, while their 14 year old is out in the cold. They are frantic to get him even a Sunday badge. Given the badge sale logistics, it's very common to see families and groups of friends fractured in this way. (Including my best friend and I.)

There's no easy answer, and it's not surprising that someone might feel compelled to roll the dice and trust one of these Craigslist sellers. But more often than not, it just results in more heartbreak - so please, please, be careful. Don't do anything to jeopardize your chances at attending next year and use your common sense. Missing Comic-Con is definitely going to sting - but losing a thousand dollars and missing Comic-Con anyway will feel far, far worse.

Badges, scalpers and desperation

15 JULY 2013

We're just a day away from the Con. Which means some people are going berzerk trying to get their mitts on a badge.

I have said many times on here that scalpers are not to be trusted - this isn't a concert you're trying to get into, it's a system where you need to show Photo ID and a special barcode, stand in line, etc. People have been caught and prosecuted for selling fake Comic Con badges. It's not like they're hard to make. 

But I know that hardly anyone listens to me on this subject, so if you're considering desperate measures to get a badge, here's what you should know.

• First, yes, it IS possible to get a legit badge through a scalper. The scalper will have to wait in line, pick up the badge and sell it to you outside. You will have to provide a nice profit margin. You'll also have to take it on the faith that they really got a legit badge and didn't just doctor up a convincing facsimile.

• Some retail/industry people get extra unassigned badges which they will sell off on Craigslist. Again, you're taking this on faith. I have known people who've gotten badges this way, but I've known more who've gotten burned.

• Another option, if you have friends going to the Con; tag along, then swap one badge back and forth. I've seen plenty of people do this. It just means that you and your friend have to be willing to sit out parts of the Con.

• People used to sell off their badges a lot on Sunday - but this year, since you need to hang onto it physically for pre-registration, I don't see this happening as much.

• With all that said, Comic Con hates any kind of badge shenanigans, and tries to do what they can to eliminate it. That includes having security guards do random checkpoints, where they ask for a photo ID and match it to your badge. How often does this happen? Obviously not that often in a crowd of 125,000 or it would cause massive bottlenecks. 

If you're desperate to make it into the convention center this week, do what you can. But use common sense - because everyone is trying to get a badge this week and evil people know it.

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Be careful buying scalped badges

04 JULY 2012


It's that time of year where enterprising scammers offer to sell Comic Con badges to all the desperate people  who'll do anything to attend.

If this is you, caveat emptor. Badges are going for $150 a day and higher on Craigslist -  supposedly Ebay is refusing to sell them, which says a lot when you consider they'll sell haunted jars, though I did find this auction. However, there is no guarantee the badges are genuine. Or, like the aforementioned auction, the seller banks on the buyer not realizing they'll need to show a picture ID to pick up the badge.

In the past, the need for a name-matching picture ID has meant that real scalpers pick up their badges and then sell them outside. This year CCI is threatening to do random ID checks to cut down on that. Realistically, I don't think many of us will be stopped and forced to show our driver's licenses before we can enter the Exhibit Hall. There are just too many of us. 


But that doesn't mean you should go ahead and trust scalpers. For one thing: you don't really know if the badge is real or created. Unless your contact was lucky enough to get a Preview Night badge, he probably had to stand in line quite a while for to pick up that badge. How many people are going to stand in line for hours to clear a one hundred dollar profit? That's a lot of effort for little money. It's a lot faster and easier to create a realistic-looking badge (like these guys) and sell that to someone who doesn't know any better. And they do look realistic - they just don't pass the sniff test at the doors of the convention center.

Past years are rife with stories of people getting scammed. Don't be one of them.