World Baseball Classic fans got sold counterfeit tickets, Miami-Dade cops say
Several fans got to the loanDepot Park gates for Saturday night’s Venezuela-Japan World Baseball Classic quarterfinal only to learn their entry wristbands were counterfeit, the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office said.
MDSO later arrested Hector GiralHernandez on a charge of organized fraud under $20,000. GiralHernandez, a 42-year-old who lives in the Jamaica area of New York’s Queens borough, submitted his $2,500 bond Sunday.
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Security staff told MDSO detectives that fans at different entrances had been turned away because they had fugazi wristbands. They described the wristband seller as wearing a black hat, black pants, and a black-and-gray shirt.
MDSO said as officers walked one of the victims off loanDepot Park grounds, he spotted GiralHernandez and pointed him out as the wristband seller.
Secondary market tickets for WBC games can be bought through online merchants such as StubHub, SeatGeek, Vivid Seats and Ticketmaster that have some protections for the buyer. There’s value from some of the street scalpers outside the event, but that’s also where the counterfeit tickets live next to the real tickets.
