Recently, there has been an uptick in the number of counterfeit badges recovered every year at METROCON. This is largely due to more informed volunteers, badges with security features and constructed of materials that are more difficult to accurately duplicate including watermarks, UV reactive ink, holographic printing, and more. Counterfeit badges will absolutely not be tolerated – if you are caught with a counterfeit pass, regardless of where you acquired it or whether you made it or not, you will have your badge removed, and the Tampa Police Department will have you trespassed from the building. This is akin to scalping counterfeit tickets to a major sporting event, and your trespass from the building does not just apply to METROCON, but to the Tampa Convention Center as a whole – you will legally not be allowed to be on Tampa Convention Center property for one year from the date of the trespass. Combatting counterfeiting and piracy is something the City of Tampa takes very seriously, and so do we – we have a zero tolerance policy for these offenses. It is no different from stealing money from a register or robbing a house, and it is a crime – please consider the repercussions (including not being able to attend any events at the TCC for a whole year) before deciding that counterfeit passes are the way to go, and if buying passes from an individual and not directly from the METROCON registration, understand that you assume this risk. All passes purchased directly from METROCON should have a receipt or confirmation e-mail – make smart decisions when deciding how to attend METROCON.