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.

Do you have any information about the Hall H fake wristbands?

26 JULY 2017

As you all know, it's believed that a group of people made or obtained fake Hall H wristbands and used them to gain access to panels - leaving legitimately wristbanded attendees shut out after waiting for 20 hours or more. CCI would understandably like to get to the bottom of this. If you saw, heard or know anything, please email me at sdccguide@gmail.com or contact CCI directly.

People who traditionally skip Hall H may consider this a trivial matter, but it's not. Many attendees invest considerable time and money traveling to SDCC specifically for Hall H. They were robbed.

We have a great community - hopefully we can come together and share what we know. Please ask your friends if they observed anything as well. Thanks.

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 SDCC Daily

7 JULY 2016

Busy day. What did we find out? Besides the obvious, Thursday panels.

And the SDCC keycards.

Well, you probably found out if you were going to the Wednesday Conan taping with Silicon Valley. There were questions, celebrations and complaints about this, so a few points.

• They prioritized SDCC attendees, which meant you had to use the promo code that was sent in the email. What email? The one you got if your Member ID profile opted in to receive emails from third-party sources. If you opted out of that, you didn't get an email with a promo code and you probably got wait-listed for every Conan taping. I thought everyone knew about this; I was wrong and I feel bad for not warning people.
• You can still do standby. If you do this, mention that you're officially waitlisted. You'll be prioritized over those who aren't. Have your waitlist email at the ready. If you're wearing some amazing cosplay, you may be seated near the front.
• That said, I think competition for standby will be a lot more intense this year. 
• So far we know that SV is Wednesday; Thursday is Weird Al and maybe a mystery guest?; Friday is Game of Thrones (and it will tape later than normal to accommodate their schedule) and Saturday is Suicide Squad. 

We also found out there's a new kind of villain in town; scammers who steal badge pictures and post them in fake online auctions. I know a few thousand of you happily shared your badge photo, sometimes with your name showing, online, so please learn from what happened to one guy: he was stripped of his pro status and had his badge cancelled by CCI - because a picture of it showed up in an Ebay action. Hopefully he can work this out with CCI. In the meantime, consider this living proof that fraudulent badge sales abound online. Whoever posted that auction (and they immediately created a new one with the name scribbled out) does not have a badge, but they may soon have an extra 2K in their pocket.


Titan announced their Torchwood book would launch at the Con.

Boom! showed their WWE covers, including one featuring Matias Bergara.

In addition to the Aliens reunion at the Con, Fox is letting you pre-order a special 30th anniversary version - and the Blu-ray comes with a Dark Horse art book and collectible cards.

Another Thursday night event: the Archer cast will do a live episode reading on a yacht. If you got tickets to this, I'm officially jealous. If you didn't get tickets, you can still get tickets for Rave of Thrones the same night. 


Gentle Giant rolled out a few SDCC exclusives.

So did Toys R Us.

Enter Schick's #Hydrorescue contest to hit up SDCC and meet Zachary Quinto.


ComiXology announced its Comic Book All Star trading cards which you can pick up at their booth.

Or you could pick up this Jared Leto-based Joker.

Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab announced their SDCC scents, available only at the CBLDF party:

• Disrespect for Authority: Gleaming black leather with blonde tobacco, copal and smoked vanilla.
• Sordid and Unpleasant Activities: White cedar and bourbon vetiver with poplar, smoked cumin, oak-barrel whiskey and a dribble of spiced rum absolute.
• Criminal Glamour: Black patchouli and leather, wet with styrax and black amber and smoothed by velvet oudh and black currant.

If I learned one thing today from the reaction to the Thursday programming, it's this: attendees are feverish for Mr. Robot. That was the panel I heard mentioned above all others. We'll see if people are just as excited for Syfy panels The Magicians and The Expanse; I'm guessing not quite as much.

Tomorrow we'll have Friday programming. We already know the afternoon is difficult, with iZombie, Orphan Black and Archer forcing you to make hard choices. And that's after giving up Hall H and seeing Game of Thrones at Conan. So many sacrifices!

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.

Updated: SLCC does NOT have a $10,000 VIP room

6 APRIL 2016



We've all heard about people who make and sell fake Comic-Con badges, but one guy took it to another level: he impersonated a federal agent at Salt Lake Comic Con, flashing documentation on a wanted fugitive, so he could get into a private VIP room that was $10,000 a head.

Let's digest that. Not the impersonation - fraud, crime, yawn, whatever - but the fact that people pay $10,000 at Salt Lake Comic Con just to be in a room with famous people. Who are these people? What do they get out of the experience? Do they ever calculate all the compound interest squandered with this financial choice?

Anyhow, Jonathon M. Wall faces 3 years in prison and a $250,000 fine; it would have been cheaper just to pay the entry fee. His sentencing is 9 June. Don't impersonate federal agents at Comic Cons, kids! Just in case that was one of your strategies this summer.

Updated: I talked to SLCC founder Bryan Brandenburg and they most definitely do not have a  $10,000 VIP room. The impersonator was just trying to get into the green room where the celebrities are. Which sounds more like the Comic Cons we know. Somehow the AP press added that extra flourish, but it just isn't true.

Warning: CCI won't replace badges lost or not sent by your buyer

17 FEBRUARY 2016




CCI published one of their badge sale FAQs, which I recommend reading. However, it's slightly different this year because we're having our badges mailed to us. And that brings up a note of caution.

To make this very clear: whoever buys the badges, gets them mailed to their house. Let's say it works like this. Using Peter Parker's Member ID, Bruce Wayne gets into the system and buys badges for Selina Kyle, Pamela Ivey and Barbara Gordon. The women then pay him through Paypal.

Where does CCI send the badges? Wayne Manor. Which means Bruce needs to mail them out.

To drive home the trust inherent in this transaction, CCI issues this chilling advice: "If the buyer does not give you your badge, Comic-Con is unable to intervene on your behalf or send you a new badge. Make sure that you personally know and trust the people you are working with in a buying group."

Uh.... what? Usually RFID badges can be turned off and reissued pretty easily. In fact, why yes, CCI themselves made this claim last year: "And if the postman accidentally delivers your badge to another dimension, RFID technology allows us to turn off the missing badge and issue you a new one onsite."

So now that everyone's involved in these intensely complex buying groups with online strangers, we're told something else? I mean, things do get lost in the mail; if CCI is going to go the mailed-out badge route, and they're trying to save money by only shipping them to the buyer address, rather than the associated member ID address, they seem to be assigning all of the risk to us. And that seems a bit unfair, since most buying groups rise up out of social networks and forums, as opposed to the local office nerd circle.

At any rate, you'll need to step back and assess your chances in a new light now. Do you want to try to restrict your buying group to people you know IRL or do you want to better your odds with a bigger group - knowing that if a stranger buys your badge, they can withhold it, sell it, or just lose it through sheer incompetence, and you have lost your chance to go to San Diego Comic-Con? Hopefully it won't happen, since the badges CAN be turned off, thereby minimizing the motivation to sell them. But you'll still be staying home if it does.

I think most of us feel like we "know" each other through Facebook, Twitter and so on, but buying groups can include a lot of random people thrown in the mix. I'm guessing most of us will still go forward with our present arrangements. But there's no denying that Open Reg just got even more precarious, which is the last thing any of us wanted.

CCI addresses our scalper questions

12 NOVEMBER 2015


And our international ones too. Are we feeling more confident now?

Eh. Let's start with the international questions. If you're a nerd from a distant land, but you're in a buying group with American friends, you can have all your badges shipped to someone here in the States. Which begs the question: why were we told to update our Member ID addresses when obviously we can enter in any shipping address we please? Anyhow, that's the deal.

Onto the problem of scalpers. Okay, so CCI didn't reveal a high-tech master plan to defeat them once and for all. Instead they said the main problem with scams and scalpers is counterfeit badges - so that's why it's so crowded now on Preview Night! - and that this will eliminate that. No more counterfeit nerds taking the seat that should have been rightfully yours in Hall H.

They also said that the Member ID system and the "high level of demand" makes it hard for scalpers to obtain more than a couple of badges. My response: the Member ID system is ripe for exploitation as you can create all the fake profiles you want; while each scalper might only be able to obtain a few badges, that multiplied by thousands of scalpers is still a problem; the black market will thrive. But I'm sure their usual spy team will try to ferret those badges out and turn them off. Anyhow, I'm expecting an uglier Open Reg than usual.

Also worth noting - there is no "line" anymore during badge sales. (Remember the year when we all had numbers telling us where we stood? That was fun.) We're all randomly plucked out of the waiting room and put into groups and then randomly selected from those groups. Just writing this makes my stomach clench.

It's Thursday and the clock is ticking down the minutes to zero nerd hour. I hope you're ready. I'll post more Pre-reg advice later but I think you all know the drill by now.

CCI's advice on badge scammers

11 JUNE 2015



In their daily quest to make your Comic-Con a success, CCI's Toucan blog shared tips on not falling for scammers. I suggest reading the whole thing, even if you have a badge for 2015, as you could help save someone else from blowing a thousand dollars or getting blacklisted from the Con.

A few valuable highlights:

• CCI voids any badge they find being sold online. So even if you do strike a deal with some Craigslist person who has a real badge to sell, that badge could be voided after you spent your money.

• They're seeing a huge increase in fakes sold from international brokers. Insert tired Nigerian prince joke here, but this really is something that can fool people.

• They are monitoring the "secondary market." I feel like someone on CCI's staff  needs to make an animated series about this, where a character (not the Toucan bird) is a tough-minded operative with a black hat history who now uses his powers to find and punish online SDCC criminals.

A while ago I shared the mating calls of the Comic-Con scammer; you might want to read that too so you don't fall for any persuasive shenanigans. It's really easy to say "I would never be that dumb" - but desperation can lead people to take crazy risks.

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.

And the advent of scammer season is upon us

26 FEBRUARY 2015

You know spring is almost here when Craigslist starts filling up with sketchy ads for overpriced SDCC badges and hotel rooms.

They're out in force already: those people offering single day or Preview Night badges for hundreds more than the official purchase price. They know there are a lot of people still reeling from their Open Registration failure and they're ready to move in for the kill like some kind of fraudulent funeral salesman.

They'll tell you usually that they'll give the badge to you at SDCC or they'll tell you what kind of fake ID to prepare (what name and address and birthdate) to match the Member ID that goes with the badge. Or they'll tell you they work for a studio, comic book retailer or other organization with guest badges to spare, and they can sell you one to be picked up at a special desk.

While a small percentage of these people are legit - legit in the sense that the overpriced badge will get you inside - most are straight up liars. This is the Nigerian prince's SDCC cousin. Don't let your Comic-Con emotions trump your good sense here; in most cases you will be flushing your money down the drain and making a disappointing situation much worse.

Of course, many of you don't give a rat's ass what kind of devil you have to deal with to get into SDCC - so here's what you need to know:

• You have to show your barcode confirmation and photo ID to get a badge. So if someone says they'll forward the email to you, or just gives you a name to use, they're preying on your first-timer's naivete.

• People offering badges on the street have mostly transferred their game online, but they do exist. This used to be more common when people got sick of Comic-Con midway through, or on Sunday, and were willing to sell their badges to strangers. Last year CCI required hanging onto your badge for Pre-reg (though some wily souls just photographed it) which presumably cut down on this.

• There's a certain amount of standing in line usually (not always) to get a badge. So if someone suggests they'll go to the convention center, wait around to get the badge then hand it over, they're either going to expect a nice profit margin for that or they're lying. Mostly likely they'll just doctor up a fake badge to give you.

• Security guards look at your badge to make sure you have access for the day and the name matches your gender presentation. Sometimes they'll pull you aside and ask for ID. Obviously this doesn't happen terribly often but it's happened to people I know.

• If you are desperate to get into San Diego Comic-Con, it's far better to strike up a deal with someone to share their badge. They'll go out to lunch or back to their hotel, and you'll use their badge to take a spin through the Exhibit Hall. Obviously this requires faith and trust, so either find someone you know or start building relationships now. If you work this out with a stranger, be prepared to make yourself vulnerable and accountable by sharing personal information.

• CCI despises badge deceit and considers it a ban-worthy offense if you're caught.

In the end, all I can say is please, please, please use your common sense and don't jeopardize your wallet or future ability to go to SDCC. It really isn't worth it. If you try a backdoor route into Comic-Con, you need to make very sure you're dealing with someone on the up and up. And for those of you who are about to send me nasty comments telling me how trustworthy and noble scalpers are - your very defensiveness is indicting.

Be careful.

Updated: please read if you have an Omni reservation

14 JANUARY 2015





Update: Hotwire is aware of the situation and refunding monies as appropriate. Also - Kerry from SDCC Unofficial Blog broke this story and she and the people involved like Transmute Jun deserve a lot of credit for preventing an epic hotel room horrorshow.



Two quick hotel updates... one kind of disturbing.

SDCC Unofficial Blog has uncovered a weird story of people who booked rooms at the Omni for SDCC 2015 through Hotwire - or so they thought. Omni had no record of the reservation and these people are now getting conflicting information about whether or not it's legitimate. So if this is you - do what you have to do to make sure you get a room this summer. You may have thought you could skip Hotel Day but that may not be the case. Everyone else: I know we all love the idea of finding that semi-secret backdoor deal, but they almost always turn out to be shady. Whether it's a hotel room or a badge or anything else, confirm arrangements as much as possible - as these people were fortunately smart enough to do.

On a brighter note, they've also confirmed (kind of) that Hotel Day will be on March 24. Yep, another Tuesday. That means of course that sometime over the next 9 weeks we'll have:

• The Early Bird Hotel Sale
• Open Registration

A word on Early Bird - I predicted last year that this would sell out this year for the first time. Why? Because after Hotel Day, when hotel reservations went live again (they always shut down for a bit after Hotel Day), it was the hottest mess ever. Worse than a badge sale. I suspect that experience will spur a number of people to play it safe with Early Bird. We'll see if I'm right.

As for timeframes, I'm guessing Early Bird will go live somewhere from late January to mid-February and Open Registration anytime from early February-early March. Emphasis on "guess."

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.

.

No, you can't buy a Comic Con pass on Craigslist

It's almost June, and that means two seasons are upon us:

1) the season where CCI begins to sell off any refunded passes
2) the season where wily scammers sell off fake Comic Con passes on Ebay, Craigslist, dark alleys and other dubious venues

If you don't have a pass, there are only three ways you're going to get one. Be one of the lucky few who buy the CCI refunded passes after June 20, be one of the very lucky few who win a contest, or affiliate yourself with a retailer/industry person who already has passes for their staff. That's it.*

Here's why. You can't buy a pass off someone else. CCI doesn't allow that. You must bring in your bar-coded confirmation letter and a photo ID when you pick up your badge. There's no way around this. I suppose you could buy the pass and then get a fake ID made, but there's no guarantee the pass is legitimate to begin with and CCI is pretty good at detecting offenders.

Bleeding Cool notes that four-day passes are being hawked for $250-$300, as noted in this super-sketchy Craigslist ad. It's possible this person has actual passes and is genuinely trying to make a profit, but whoever is naive enough to buy them won't be able to use them. They'll just be out hundreds of dollars and whatever they spent on plane fare/hotel room to get there.

Nor can you buy someone else's pass, then call CCI and ask for it to be transferred into your name because your friend who originally bought it can't go. I've seen people attempt this for very valid reasons and get denied. Refunds only, no transfers. This is a bitter pill when your sole travel companion has to cancel and your other friend would like to come instead, but CCI won't allow the pass transferred.

So. Don't fall for the many, many scams rising up online like so many zombies. The Con got a lot of attention for selling out so quickly this year, and enterprising scammers know that someone will be dumb or desperate enough to buy their fake passes. Don't. People will try to sell off real passes, too. Don't buy those either. You won't be able to use them.


* Okay, there are two other ways. If you have friends who are going, persuade them to let you come along, then swap one badge back and forth. Photo ID is only checked when you pick up your badge - after that, the security staff just checks that you have admittance for that day, so you can indeed use someone else's badge to enter the convention center. Obviously this means you and your friend can't attend the same panels and events. Your other option, which only works if you're local, is to stand outside the convention center that weekend and somehow find people with four-day badges who aren't coming back, then offer to buy theirs off them. CCI frowns on this and despite the massive crowding, their staff is everywhere so be very discreet if you try this.