With the ball just over a week away, the Krewe of Carnivale en Rio is warning residents about a scam floating around.
The party is set for Saturday, January 8th, and will mark the return of Mardi Gras balls after last year's cancellations, but some are looking to capitalize on the excitement. Organizers say the ball is sold out, but tickets have popped up for sale online.
The krewe is out with a warning to watch out for the scam.
"Everybody wants to go, of course. The scammers are going to be able to kind of latch onto something and try to make some money."
Krewe member Seth Aymond says a friend was approached to buy tickets for the Rio Ball online. Aymond adds he knew immediately that was a scam.
"They didn't see the actual tickets. She just said in the span of the text messaging back and forth she was going to email the tickets to them once they received the PayPal transaction. This year all of our guest tickets were printed, so there are no electronic copies,” Aymond explained.
If you do see tickets for sale, "Definitely check with a Krewe member, somebody that knows what's happening before sending a wire transaction and make sure you have the tickets in hand,” said Aymond. "If it's not an actual printed ticket, then don't pay for it. It's not a ticket from Rio."
Again keep in mind any guest tickets for next week's ball cannot be emailed; they are printed, physical tickets.
As for krewe members, those tickets are non-transferable and will be given to krewe members as they check in on ball night.
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