Don’t buy football tickets from someone you don’t know on Saturday, University Police warned fans and visitors Wednesday.

Police expressed concern that a fraudulent ticket scam could hit Athens for the much-anticipated football game this weekend between No. 3 Georgia and No. 8 Alabama.

In a news release, police said police from the Alabama reported a large number of counterfeit tickets at the Auburn-Louisiana State game Sept. 20.

Both that game and the one this weekend are set at night preceded by the popular ESPN “College GameDay” show.

The magnitude of the two games is similar. Southeastern Conference foes Auburn and LSU were also ranked in the top 10 nationally.

These fake tickets look incredibly similar to the real tickets, police said. They also warned that counterfeit money is used to buy tickets.

“Individuals that sell counterfeit tickets do everything to blend in and look like the average fan, according to police and that the counterfeit tickets being sold are hard to recognize even for Athletic Association personnel,” police wrote in the release.

- Kristen Coulter