SCAMMERS TARGET A POPULAR CORN MAZE
The secondary ticket market for the South Shore farm has apparently attracted the unscrupulous
When Tammy Bengin finally scored sold-out tickets to a popular South Shore farm from a reseller on Facebook, she breathed a sigh of relief. After a frantic search, she would be able to bring her two sons to Sauchuk’s Corn Maze and Pumpkin Patch in Plympton after all. They would meet up on a Sunday with relatives, get lost among the cornstalks, and zoom down the zipline.
Or so she thought. Surely the secondary ticket market for corn mazes, farfetched as that sounds, was safe.
After a brief exchange on Facebook with a seemingly friendly stranger, Bengin paid $60 for three tickets on Venmo and waited for them to arrive by e-mail.
But when an hour passed and the tickets didn’t come through, it became clear that her family would miss the fall tradition. Bengin reached out to the man multiple times, saying her “kids are crying,” but he said he sent them and denied any wrongdoing.
“I could see scamming tickets to Disneyland. But a little farm place that families just like to take their kids to — it’s an awesome place that we’ve been going to for years — is very bizarre,” said Bengin, 37, who lives in Whitman and alerted others in a local Facebook group about the scam. “It kind of blew my mind.”
With tickets to Sauchuk’s in high demand, scammers have apparently moved in. Last season and in recent weeks, warnings about people being targeted on the secondary market have appeared in posts on community Facebook groups, and even cropped up in comments on the farm’s own page.
In response, the farm took action last week by urging customers to use a secure platform called TicketSpice to ensure any transactions between ticket holders and buyers are legitimate.
“From what I’ve seen, it is mostly honest people who genuinely have tickets. They’re just trying to recoup their money because they can’t make it anymore,” said Jillian Iacadoro, the farm’s manager for the past decade. “But obviously there’s bad people out there, too.”
Iacadoro said she noticed some comments on the farm’s posts, with people saying to “watch out” for a person whose name seemed to appear a few times. While she’s unaware of the extent of the issue, Iacadoro said when she saw the warnings, she investigated further. She turned off the filter on comments and saw someone else from Missouri claiming to have tickets to sell.
“I thought that seemed suspicious, so I did hide their comment,” Iacadoro said.
On magazine lists and blogs, Sauchuk’s often
ranks among the top corn mazes in the state and all of New England.
Due to its popularity, and capacity limits implemented during the pandemic, getting tickets has become difficult, with demand spiking during the peak fall season.
This catches some people offguard, so Iacadoro recently posted a few frequently asked questions on Facebook, leading with “Are you really sold out?”
The answer? A resounding “Yes.”
“Once October hits, it’s basically the same level of busyness because it sells out every weekend,” she said. “And it’s the same cap for every day.”
The farm limited capacity in 2020 when the state mandated restrictions during the pandemic, Iacadoro said. Before then, the farm could “easily have 4,000 people a day,” a crush that led to long lines, overwhelmed staff, an overflowing parking lot, agitated neighbors, and scores of frustrated customers.
In essence, it was a “free for all,” Iacadoro said.
Crowds are now limited to 2,600 people per day on the weekends, and nearly all the tickets are sold online, instead of the front gate as in years past.
Soon, the secondary market for tickets blossomed.
On Facebook, people seeking tickets regularly post about availability, with comments like, “Anyone looking to get rid of any Sauchuk Farm tickets for this weekend? I need 6!” or “Does anyone know how to get tix for Sauchuk for tomorrow?”
Sometimes they’ll luck out. But it’s not without risk, as Bengin’s experience shows.
That scammers would target people hoping to spend the day at Sauchuk’s with their families is a bit of a mystery to Iacadoro, but she said she believes most sellers are truthful.
But Iacadoro said it’s not surprising that tickets are hard to come by. The farm appeals to people of all ages, she said, with its cow train, hayride to the pumpkin patch, and “apple blasters.”
Plus, the winding corn maze, which this year honors Red Sox legend David Ortiz and his July Hall of Fame induction.
Despite the ticket crunch, the farm will be sticking with its capacity limits, and she’s hopeful the recommendation to use TicketSpice will allow people to swap passes safely.
While Bengin’s sons Dylan, 6, and Tyler, 2, were in tears last week when they found out they wouldn’t be able to join their cousins at the farm, she was finally able to take them there on Sunday.
It ended up being “a great time.” But the experience with the seller, whose Facebook profile later disappeared, still baffled her.
“You wouldn’t think that somebody would go that far to rip somebody off,” she said.