US ‘Wiseguys’ in the Dock After Trading 1.5 Million Tickets
Thursday, 04 March 2010
Written by TJ Ireland
Three Californian men have pleaded not guilty to ticketing fraud involving up to 1.5 million tickets and worth an estimated $29 million.
According to US local rag North Jersey.com, the men were arrested by the FBI on charges of fraud and computer hacking after purchasing huge numbers of tickets illegally for music concerts and sporting events.
The trio allegedly set up a nationwide computer network that has targeted online ticket vendors such as Ticketmaster, and tickets.com since 2002.
Their ridiculously-named company, ‘Wiseguy Tickets Inc.’ then resold the tickets to ticket brokers, making a profit estimated at $28.9 million between 2005 and 2008.
The trio allegedly developed software that allowed them to bypass ticketing websites’ ‘Captchas’ –the distorted letters users are required to re-type to prove they are not a computer programme.
A lawyer for the accused told E-Commerce Times that US courts were trying to criminalise ‘ticket brokering’ which was not currently illegal.
Rolling Stone magazine commented that the case may ‘spur on some change’ from ‘a ticketing industry in flux,’ adding that ‘the secondary ticket market will play an even larger role’ in the future.
NOTE FROM THE EDITOR
We don't run any advertising! Our editorial content is solely funded by lovely people like yourself using Stereoboard's listings when buying tickets for live events. To keep supporting us, next time you're looking for concert, festival, sport or theatre tickets, please search for "Stereoboard". It costs you nothing, you may find a better price than the usual outlets, and save yourself from waiting in an endless queue on Friday mornings as we list ALL available sellers!
