Austin City Limits is one of the biggest events of the year for people who live in Austin and all across the country. The festival features live performances by artists such as Sabrina Carpenter and Djo, along with various food and drink vendors. But this year, not all McCallum students made it into the festival. Some lost money buying tickets online, while others sold theirs safely to friends.

Senior Dustin Stanley thought he had found a good deal on Facebook Marketplace.

“I kind of just heard from people that you could get them cheaper on Facebook Marketplace,” Stanley said. “It was this lady, and we checked out her page. It looked real — like she had a long history, old photos, even posts about her son. So we thought it was legit.”

Dustin paid $400 for a three-day pass, but when he got to the front entrance, his ticket didn’t scan.

He said it’s easy for students to fall for online scams, especially when buying ACL tickets due to high demand. 

“A lot of kids just don’t really know if it’s a scam or not. It’s easy to fall for it, especially when the tickets look real,” Stanley said. 

Some students try to save money by buying tickets online, and that makes it even more tempting to take risks. They might see a deal that looks too good to pass up and not think about what could go wrong.

Now, Stanley advises other students to buy tickets only from verified sources or meet sellers in person.

On the other hand, sophomore Claire Sturich had extra tickets she couldn’t use and sold them safely to friends.

“My parents got them for my birthday, but I had another event that weekend,” Sturich said. “I didn’t post them online, I just sold them to my family friends.”

Because she knew the buyers personally, Sturich didn’t worry about scams. She said it was frustrating to hear about other students losing money. 

“It’s sad because tickets are so expensive. People save up just to go, and then they lose all that money,” Sturich said.

Sturich also said social media ticket sales can be risky. 

Fake accounts and fake tickets are everywhere, and even experienced buyers can be tricked if they aren’t careful. 

Sturich added that this experience made her think more carefully about selling and buying tickets online in the future. 

 She said she plans to verify sellers more thoroughly before making a purchase. Sturich also hopes others will learn from her situation and take extra precautions when buying tickets from unfamiliar sources.

Sophomore Molly Stuesser wasn’t as lucky. She tried buying a ticket for weekend two through Instagram and ended up getting scammed.

“People were posting on Instagram saying they had extra passes, and a lot of them looked real, so I thought it was fine,” Stuesser said. “The person’s account looked normal and even sent me a screenshot of the ticket.”

Stuesser paid $450 but never received a valid ticket. 

Stuesser tried reporting the account to Instagram but couldn’t get her money back. Stuesser said this made her more cautious about buying anything from people she doesn’t know.

“It was really frustrating. I’d been planning to go all year, and then I just couldn’t,” she said.

Stuesser said these kinds of scams happen a lot, especially when students buy tickets last minute. Rushing to get tickets makes people more likely to fall for scams. Waiting too long can be stressful, and scammers take advantage of that.

“Only buy from someone you actually know, or meet in person if you can. Make sure it works before sending any money,” she said.

For students at McCallum, ACL ticket scams were a hard lesson. Some students lost hundreds of dollars, others sold their tickets safely, and all learned how careful they need to be when buying or selling online.

“People need to think before they send money online,” Sturich said. “It’s not worth losing a bunch of money just to save a little.”