WASHINGTON — It’s the hottest ticket in town and scalped tickets for the National Museum of African American History and Culture are popping up online — some selling for the museum’s opening for $120 a pop.
Among posts for concerts and festivals, Craigslist shows multiple tickets for sale to the opening of the Smithsonian’s newest museum. Some offering to trade their timed tickets, but most want to sell them for cash only — a practice that’s illegal in the District.
“There really is no way for us to enforce someone selling a ticket on Craigslist or Ebay or even to a friend. There’s no way to enforce that other than to say to people, really the tickets are free,” said Smithsonian spokeswoman Linda St. Thomas.
There’s no way for the museum to know whether someone is using a scalped ticket at the door, St. Thomas said.
D.C. police are not investigating because they say no one has filed a complaint that they purchased fraudulent tickets.
“If someone were to report being ripped off in one of these scams, MPD (Metropolitan Police Department) would investigate. But as you know, these kinds of cases are incredibly hard to prosecute because it’s very difficult to identify who is behind the scam,” a police spokeswoman said.
The department recommends going directly to the source to ensure your tickets are reputable.
