CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — It’s a fashion statement. The colors, or the mascot representing a favorite sports team.
Jonathan Winfrey, the co-owner of VNP Gallery downtown Corpus Christi has seen all sorts of jerseys.
“The stitching, the year it came out, the player, the team, the color,” Winfrey said. “All of that plays a part in the rarity in the price of it. I’ve seen for a lot of money.”
Winfrey said as a high dollar item, sometimes you have to be careful when looking to purchase a sports jersey. Scammers have new ways to trick people.
“Like they’ll posts a picture of an authentic jersey but when you get it in the mail, it’s not really what it is,” Winfrey said.
BBB scam tracker has seen reports of scammers asking customers to pay through PayPal after which they may send you a tracking number for your order.
In some cases, the jersey never existed, and you'll be left waiting for a package to arrive that isn't coming.
Katie Galan with the BBB said scammers are trying to cash in on the hype of March Madness.
"We see a lot of times when this starts to pop up, we'll start to see fake websites and those typically come through social media ads. That's why we ask people not to click on ads or links you receive through social media,” Galan said.
The BBB wants sports fans to know, if you are buying a jersey online, be sure to do some research and purchase from a reputable business and use safe payments practices.
Winfrey follows that advice to help his business.
“There’s a couple of jerseys that I have found in the past that looked kind of shady,” Winfrey said. “The things you can tell if it real is like the stitching the tags. I would even go online and look at a real authentic one or go to a local sports shop and look for it there.”
For more sports-related tips and alerts, see BBB.org/sports,
Read BBB's tips for smart shopping online and review BBB's general scam tips at 10 Steps to avoid scams.
If you spot a scam, report it! Share your experience on the BBB Scam Tracker to help other consumers steer clear of scams.
