When do you know when your basketball program has truly arrived and is now viewed as one of the elites in the country? Perhaps it is when ticket demand has become so strong that counterfeiters have joined the party.

Ohio State acknowledged recently that several tickets being sold by individuals for men’s basketball games at Value City Arena this season are fakes, and some of the unlawful transactions may be occurring right outside the doors of the Schottenstein Center.

In fact, concern for the problem swelled to the point that the athletic department issued the following warning on Thursday:

“The Ohio State Athletics Ticket Office reminds fans to only purchase tickets from authorized sources: The Ohio State Athletics Ticket Office, ohiostatebuckeyes.com or Ticketmaster.

“Fans looking to purchase tickets for sold-out games (Michigan State Feb. 11 and Wisconsin Feb. 25 or 26) are urged to search listings on the Buckeyes TicketExchange, the Official Ticket Exchange site of Ohio State Athletics, and the only resale site that guarantees the tickets will be valid. This site is available on the Tickets site (dropdown menu) at OhioStateBuckeyes.com.

“Tickets purchased from unauthorized sources could be counterfeit, stolen or otherwise void. These tickets will not allow the holder admission into the event.”

The release added that about 2,000 tickets are available for the Purdue home game Feb. 7 and about 1,200 tickets remain for the Illinois game Feb. 21.

The tickets in question are “very high-quality reproductions of season tickets,” according to Brett Scarbrough, the department’s senior director of ticketing, in an interview with The Columbus Dispatch. “They are of such a quality that it’s pretty hard for the untrained eye to make the distinction. That’s why we felt it was necessary to get the word out for people to be careful.”

Scarbrough said an average of 30 to 50 counterfeit tickets have been discovered for high-demand home games against Duke, Indiana and Michigan. Ohio State police are investigating, but Scarbrough told The Dispatch said he knows of no arrests as yet.

Scarbrough said that many ticket sales outside the arena tend to happen on Lane Avenue just east of the Schottenstein Center and near the bridge just past Olentangy River Road.

Athletic director Gene Smith said counterfeit tickets have been an issue in the past, especially for Ohio State home football games.