Credential Scam Shows Demand for This Event

How coveted is a seat at the Final Four?

The event is so hot that two people misrepresented themselves as newspaper reporters Friday to get credentials for the semifinals today and title game Monday at East Rutherford, N.J.

Duped NCAA tournament officials gave the credentials to a man claiming to be Jon Wilner, a Los Angeles Daily News staff writer, and a woman who said she worked for the Chicago Tribune, before interview sessions with coaches and players at the Meadowlands Arena. Officials could not confirm if the impostors were working together.

“I gave them my name and my Daily News ID, and they checked and said somebody else had already signed for [the credential],” Wilner said. “And he signed my name wrong.”

Officials gave three Chicago Tribune credentials to the female impostor. The real reporters were issued temporary passes and told they would get new credentials today.

Tournament officials said the impostors presented drivers’ licenses showing the reporters’ names. The NCAA requires photo identification and signatures to release credentials.

The credential scam is the result of the demand for tickets, officials believe. Most New York and New Jersey ticket brokers want $1,500 for the arena’s worst seats and $8,000 for court-side seats.

This was the first such incident at a Final Four since 1989 in Seattle, when a man posing as a San Francisco Chronicle reporter was given a credential. Officials said he was later caught.

“We’ll catch them,” said Tim Allen, Final Four coordinator of media credentials and distribution. “We’ve caught them before and we’ll do it again. We have our methods.”