14 DAY TRIAL // Many people, supporters and relatives of the competitors, want to get a front seat at the Olympics. Since tickets are almost sold out, some resort to anonymous websites that promise unbelievably small prices for the best seats in the house. Beijingticketing.com is one of these sites that scammed many people, one of them paying over $55,000 (in Australian dollars) for tickets for a family of seven.
None of the persons who paid big money to get first row spots at the opening ceremony, or in the tribunes, to see their favorite sports, received the tickets they paid for. "Beijing 2008 Ticketing is a well known tickets agent and a trusted market place for buyers to find book Olympic tickets. We assure 100 % guaranteed tickets delivery." it is noted on the website. Despite the fact that the company is allegedly based in Arizona, those who looked for its offices could not find any trace of them.
Some of the "customers" did not realize they had been deceived until the beginning of August, as they had been assured that their tickets would definitely be delivered, but not sooner than late July. When they tried to call the phone number displayed on the web page, all they got was the busy tone.
However, the scammers had already taken the necessary measures to lay all suspicions to rest by saying that, due to the increased number of calls, the lines might be unavailable. "Dear Customers , due to very high call volume we are unable to attend all calls. Please email us at [...]." Although the website looks very professional, the blank space before a punctuation mark, which can be noticed in the previous sentence, could have tipped off attentive users, as bad punctuation is often a clear indicator of illicit websites.
"Only in the last week or so have we confirmed that, in fact, there are no tickets coming through," stated Rana Dershowitz, general counsel for the United States Olympic Committee for the Los Angeles Times. "We have seen no evidence that anyone has received any tickets. The best that we can tell, it's blatant fraud." The official also said that users from England, New Zealand and other countries were tricked by the website.
A legal investigation is currently under way. Although U.S. judges should have ruled today if the website is to be shut down or not, the URL is already unavailable.