Brazil to BAN England fans that spent thousands on tickets from unofficial sites
Posted Saturday, May 31, 2014 by Dailystar.co.uk
Brazil to BAN England fans that spent thousands on tickets from unofficial sites
RIPPED OFF: Fifa has stated that it will only accept official tickets from official online retailers
Officials at football’s governing body Fifa say tickets should only be bought from them and not from touts reselling them online for a huge profit.
They have employed a company to track down unauthorised ticket sales.
Fifa has the power to cancel any they find have been bought through unofficial means.
That means some fans who may have paid four figures for tickets on black market sites could fly 6,000 miles to Brazil only to be turned away at the turnstiles.
Fifa are determined to clamp down on internet touting in a bid to stop supporters being ripped off by organised crime gangs.
Anti-touting firm MATCH Services are scouring the internet on behalf of Fifa.
Yesterday one UK website was offering World Cup finals tickets for £1,495.
Experts said many touts use computer programs along with hundreds of different credit cards to buy in bulk.
But it is almost impossible not to leave an electronic trail.
Fifa can use that trail to cancel hundreds of illegally sold tickets at a time.
Anti-ticket fraud expert Reg Walker, of consultants Iridium Security, said: “We know of an organised crime group in London using Brazil nationals to harvest tickets from other Brazilians for resale.
“They get them from officials as well. We have got touts in the UK boasting they have tickets from Fifa and Uefa officials. It is absolutely frightening.”
Many black market sites are based outside the UK and are exempt from the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act which bans football ticket reselling.
The Fifa ticket allocation for all but one of the first 13 qualifying games is sold out.
But numerous “secondary market” ticket agencies are selling £50 seats at far higher prices to desperate fans.
Website WorldCup2014 Ticketnet is advertising tickets from £166 to £375 for England’s opening match with Italy in Manaus on June 14.
Guarantee Tickets is selling seats for the opening game between Brazil and Croatia on June 12 for more than £2,200. Football-best-tickets is asking £2,000 for a VIP seat for England v Uruguay.
Although based abroad, the sites have UK phone numbers. There is no evidence they are breaking the law.
MATCH Services said it was not aware of any Fifa or Uefa official being involved in illegally selling tickets to touts.
A Fifa spokesman said: “We cancel tickets discovered as illegally sold or resold with the bearers risking denial of entry into World Cup matches.”
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