USOC alleges Beijing Games ticket scam
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The USOC and IOC today filed civil lawsuits that allege fraudulent activity by a ticket company doing business as ‘Xclusive Leisure and Hospitality.’ Olympics officials said that the company that apparently has operations in Phoenix has been illegally offering Beijing Games admission tickets.
The U.S. Olympic Committee also said that it has been ‘contacted by several consumers who purchased tickets using one of the fraudulent websites’ and that ‘no tickets have been received by those consumers despite numerous phone calls and emails to the websites.’
Two of the websites listed in the lawsuits are: Beijingticketing.com and Beijing-2008tickets.com. The USOC press release lists the names of several other associated websites. The lawsuits filed in federal courts in Arizona and Northern California allege that the website operators ‘illegally use Olympic trademarks in connection with their fraudulent activity.’
USOC said that only two licensed ticket sellers, Jet Set Sports and CoSport, are authorized to sell tickets in the U.S.
In a related development, Beijing Games organizers on Friday will launch the last general public ticket sale before the Games begin on Aug. 8. About 820,000 tickets will be sold from kiosks at the various venues, including the new National Stadium and the National Aquatics Center.
But don’t get your hopes up. The last tickets to be sold are reserved for ‘the domestic general publics,’ according to the official press release, which adds that ‘corporate purchase will not be accepted.’
And if you’re looking to scalp tickets? According to the New China News Agency, one Chinese newspaper has reported that Beijing police might detain scalpers for up to 15 days in detention.
Another newspaper reported that a 5,000 yuan ($732) ticket for the Aug. 8 Opening Ceremony recently was resold for 210,000 yuan ($30,756).
-- Greg Johnson