Impostor scams Blanchard man, two friends out of $300 for Thunder tickets

Jack Harrison, 30, of Blanchard, said he was skeptical at first when a man approached him Tuesday night outside Chesapeake Energy Arena with an offer of suite tickets to the sold-out game against the Los Angeles Lakers.

Harrison went to the arena with a friend and a family member in hopes of getting some last-minute tickets to the game.

He said they eventually decided to go with the man and another man, who said they were promoters for the game and had family on the Lakers' team. The man said he would take them to the suite seats before they paid him.

“These guys had a badge or a ticket around their necks that said VIP,” he said. “We walked up to the ticket-taker, and he told them he was going to show us the suites, and they let us all pass.”

Harrison said the man was able to get them past another set of ticket-checkers and two security officers before sitting them in three seats in the Cox suite.

“This guy got us through three levels of security,” Harrison said. “After all that, we thought it was legitimate. I handed him the $300 and he said he would go get our tickets and asked if we wanted any drinks.”

A few minutes later the actual ticket holders showed up and Harrison and his companions were forced to move. They found the man who had promised them the tickets, and he said he had made a mistake and found three other suite seats. Again he promised he would go get their tickets.