When something sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

That’s a lesson many people learned when they received calls offering free Iowa State football tickets from someone pretending to be from campus radio station KURE 88.5 FM.

As many as 100 to 200 people may have received this prank call in the past few weeks, said Justin Hesse, KURE sports director.

Several of them even stopped by the station looking for their tickets, said Hesse, sophomore in meteorology.

“Once in a while they would pop into the station, and I would explain that we’re sorry, but we have nothing to do with the hoax that’s going around,” he said.

Hesse said five people came to KURE thinking they had won tickets to the Iowa State-University of Iowa game during his radio show a few weeks ago.

Sharlene Macatangay, KURE music librarian, said two people stopped by last Friday expecting tickets to the game against Kansas State.

All the calls were probably made by one person, said Macatangay, junior in industrial engineering.

“He was bored, probably. Really lame prank,” Macatangay said.

Christina Kitson, KURE public relations director, also said she thought it was some person’s idea of a joke.

“I think someone was playing a practical joke — someone with really bad taste — but it was nobody who worked at the station,” said Kitson, junior in communication studies.

She said KURE does not call people to award prizes.

“In order for us to give tickets away, you have to call in the show and win them, but these people got called,” Kitson said. “We also have never given away any football tickets at all.”

Kitson said the radio station does give away hockey tickets and other prizes, but to win, a listener must call in and correctly answer a trivia question.

Since the calls all were made between 1 a.m. and 3 a.m., most of those called suspected it was a prank, even if they did come in to collect their prizes.

“When you’re desperate to get tickets, when something like this is offered, most people will jump at the opportunity — even if they think in the back of there mind that this isn’t the way it is,” Kitson said.

She said people should not believe someone calling them offering tickets, but the hoax should not keep them from calling into the station for the real giveaways.