Featured Image: Yann Caradec from Paris, France/CC BY-SA 2.0
French authorities have discovered more than 300 fraudulent websites selling invalid tickets to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games with just over six weeks to go until it begins on July 26.
The National Gendarmerie’s UNCyber department was put in charge of combatting ticketing fraud for the Games in March 2023. It has now uncovered 338 sites, shutting down 51 and putting a further 140 on notice.
The unit has 200 officers dedicated to carrying out research on the internet and social media, with the cyber patrols carried out under the control of Europol.
It is said that the majority of these websites are hosted abroad.
“The gendarmes carry out various searches on all French and foreign search engines to detect sites that sell and resell unauthorised tickets,” said UNCyber director Etienne Lestrelin, as reported by franceinfo. “The goal is to hunt and to identify these sites.
“They know that the procedures are longer and less easy to take action to close or withdraw the site.
“Scammer sites which aim to capture personal data. They will try to catch your email and your phone by telling you that they will contact you as soon as there are tickets available. They will tell you that they found the exceptional 100m place three meters from the track which doesn’t exist!”
Lestrelin has warned those wanting to purchase tickets for the event that the only legitimate place to buy them is on the official Paris 2024 website.
Until the Games begin, and during the event, the unit will remain active in its investigation into fraudulent ticket sellers and will aim to put an end to the practice.
It has entered into a partnership with France’s Directorate General for Competition Policy, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control to cross-reference information, data, and identified sites.
The Games’ Organising Committee will then follow up to question those that have bought from these platforms to trace the unauthorised tickets back to the sellers.
Last month, organisers released the official Paris 2024 app which allows users to resell and transfer their tickets to other fans.
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