Police shut down 100 ticket scam websites

Police have shut down more than 100 ticket scam websites and forced others to remove illegal content.

In what was called the biggest operation of its kind for a single law-enforcement agency, officers from the UK’s Police Central e-crime Unit (PCECU) worked with web hosts and registrars in the UK and other countries to bring down the sites.

The problem of websites selling fake tickets has grown enormously as fraudsters set up increasingly sophisticated sites. They are often very hard for consumers to detect and Computeractive has found that fraudsters often accurately mimic legitimate sites so they can con people, often out of hundreds of pounds, when buying tickets for entertainment and sporting events.

Detective Superintendent Charlie McMurdie, from the PCECU said: "Fraudsters capitalise on the victim's desire to attend an event knowing they will pay out for the opportunity to be present at that all important one-off event."

Codenamed Operation Phyllite, this was the culmination of months of work by PCECU. Officers from this unit which is part of the Metropolitan police service, trawled hundreds of websites suspected of selling tickets fraudulently. Their work was also helped by fans who had fallen victim to one of the fraudulent sites and wanted to fight back.

A representative for the PCECU said that the police communicated with the registry and web-hosting companies to get fake sites taken down. Others which were selling merchandise illegally agreed to remove the offending products.

This month’s operation, however, is just the tip of the iceberg. The fraudsters will continue to set up fake websites for entertainment events.

DS McMurdie warned people to remain vigilant.

“The risk begins when your desire to purchase the tickets blinds your judgment or leads you to unlawful websites. If it looks too good to be true it probably is,” she said.

People buying tickets online can check to see if a website is a member of the Society of Ticket Agents and Retailers. Consumer Direct has also put some guidance online; including being very wary of sellers that make promises that sound too good to be true, such as being able to sell cheap tickets for sold-out events or offering tickets before they are officially on sale.