Police to Crackdown on Fake 2012 Olympics Tickets

Police in London will set up specialist teams to investigate counterfeit tickets and other fraud attempts at the 2012 Olympics but, according to Which? Computing, online scammers have already turned their interests toward selling ‘fake’ tickets to the event on the web.

Tickets for the London Games go on sale next year but police are already monitoring e-tickets and internet domain names they suspect have been registered to sell fake tickets.  The Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) is also putting together a dedicated team to deal with crime surrounding the Olympics.

An increasing number of domain names are being purchased from UK ISP addresses that bear reference to the Olympics. It’s not difficult to obtain one; it’s a case of registering with a hosting company, checking the availability of your desired site name, and registering the domain! Which? Computing proved just how easy it is, by registering their own Olympic referenced site.

Although the Office of Fair Trading (OFT), are trying their best to highlight this problem, Which? Computing say that more needs to be done in order to wipe the web clear of fraudsters, once and for all.

The editor of Which? Computing, Sarah Kidner mentioned that several sites on the web already promise tickets for events that simply don’t exist.  Rules and regulations have to be enforced, to make sure that scammers get wiped out.