Watch Video
Podcasts
Blogs
Five charged in Olympics tickets scam
Wednesday, 6 August, 2008
Three women and two men have been charged with the unauthorised sale of tickets for the Olympic equestrian events in Hong Kong, police say.
The five people were arrested after officers from the technology crime division mounted an operation against the illegal online sale of tickets on August 5.
The men, aged 25 and 34, and women aged between 28 and 31, were alleged to have offered the tickets for sale to officers at a significantly higher price than the 71 Hong Kong dollars ($A9.95) charged by the official ticketing agent. The five were subsequently detained and 42 tickets seized in the operation.
The launch of the investigation came as a Hong Kong woman became the victim of a worldwide fraud after spending $A2,186 on tickets she has never received.
Helen Williams bought eight tickets for the cross-country competition at $A273 each, more than 25 times the price charged by China Travel Service, the official ticket agent.
She received an email on Monday from "Alan Scott" of beijingticketing.com saying the company's suppliers "have not been able to honour their commitments to us in supplying tickets for the summer Olympics".
The website was unavailable when attempts to access the site were made.
The International Olympic Committee has so far identified 71 fraudulent websites offering tickets to the public.
Source: AAP
