Organized criminals with links to the arms and drugs trade were "plotting to hijack the Rugby World Cup ticket launch and
hold countless ordinary fans to ransom on the secondary market," according to Ben Rumsby of the London TELEGRAPH. Tournament organizers and senior police officers admitted that the second
biggest sporting event ever held in the U.K. "would definitely be targeted
by gangs of touts, who Britain’s leading anti-ticket fraud expert warned stood to make millions illegally from fleecing unsuspecting supporters." Friday’s
10am launch "will see eager fans from around the world log on to England
Rugby 2015’s official website in the hope of purchasing tickets." But
"they face being at a massive disadvantage to sophisticated criminals
boasting state-of-the-art software which allows them to harvest huge
numbers of tickets for resale at extortionate prices." The scale of
the attempted scam "could be unprecedented, according to Reg Walker,
regarded as one the country’s biggest experts on anti-ticket fraud." Walker: "It’s going to be one of the handful of events that would be one of the most heavily targeted ever" (TELEGRAPH, 9/11).
NO PROTECTIVE LAW: REUTERS' Michael Hann wrote unlike the ticketing system for the London Olympics, in which the government introduced legislation banning the unauthorized resale of tickets, the IRB "did not apply for the same conditions." In a bid to deter touts, ticket agency Ticketmaster "has implemented software that can detect multiple applications but officials accept that they face a difficult battle against increasingly sophisticated operators." England Rugby 2015 Communications Dir Joanna Manning-Cooper said, "Fans should only buy through official sources. We are doing everything we can to make sure tickets get into the hands of fans who want to come to the tournament, and not to touts who simply want to sell them on at a profit" (REUTERS, 9/11). The PA's Martyn Ziegler wrote some secondary agencies "are already offering tickets for sale even though none are yet available, based solely on the expectation they will be able to get some." Viagogo, for example, is advertising a category C ticket for the final for £3,278.99 ($5,300) -- more than 10 times the £315 ($511) face value -- "even though none have yet been sold to the public." There "are also fears of touts taking money for tickets that do not exist" (INDEPENDENT, 9/11). In London, Alex Lowe wrote a ballot system "will be introduced for any oversubscribed matches, which is one measure the organisers have used to try to defeat the touts." Ticketmaster has said that "other safeguards are in place" (LONDON TIMES, 9/11).
