Scam: World Cup touts seek $3600 a 'ticket'

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After making a killing at the soccer World Cup in South Africa, global internet sharks are turning their sights on Auckland and next year's Rugby World Cup.

Already, websites are offering tickets at two, three and even four times times the official price.

One has category A tickets at $3642 when the official price is $1250, and category D tickets at $1682 when the official price is $390.

Not only are the prices too high, but punters face a risk that the tickets will not be delivered.

Steve Martin, a director at internet security firm Symantec, said they could also be giving their credit-card details to criminals.

"It's a double-edged fraud," he said.

Mr Martin said New Zealand would face the same ticketing issues seen during the Fifa World Cup and the 2008 Olympics.

At the Beijing Games, almost 2000 sports fans were fleeced out of $4.9 million when they bought tickets through a bogus website.

A South African newspaper estimated internet scams netted about $1.2 million during the soccer World Cup.

Rugby New Zealand 2011 chief executive Martin Snedden said it was not clear how the unofficial websites had got hold of tickets, but it could have been during the first phase of official sales this year.

The next official sales of individual tickets will take place next month.

Mr Snedden also said it was unclear if rugby fans using the unofficial websites would receive tickets.

Two of the websites - worldcup2011.com and euroteam.net - are run by a shady Norwegian firm known as Euroteam.

The Herald understands Euroteam often promises to deliver tickets close to the day of the event.

But the internet is awash with complaints from its customers, who say they did not receive the tickets they paid for.

One disappointed British soccer fan posted a message on complaintsboard.com after buying match tickets through Euroteam and being left high and dry when he arrived in South Africa.

"All in all, the trip to South Africa cost me over £10,000 - it was such a huge disappointment, especially for my son, not to have seen any of the matches," the fan wrote.

Mr Snedden said the appearance of unofficial ticketing websites before the tournament was going to be a "constant problem".

If Rugby World Cup authorities identified tickets "sold in an unauthorised manner", they would be made void and the holders barred from the match.

"The other possibility is that they're counterfeit tickets," he said.

"We are holding back the issuing of physical tickets until two or three months before the event next yearto avoid people being duped in this way, but you can only go so far inthe end."

Rugby World Cup Ltd general manager Ross Young said there were no guarantees that anyone using the unofficial websites would receive tickets.

"None are authorised and none of them are official, so technically they're all scam websites," Mr Young said.

The Herald also found four other unofficial websites claiming to sell Rugby World Cup tickets - www.worldticketshop.com, www.onlineticketexpress.com, www.ticketcity.com and www.2011rugbyworldcuptickets.com.

Mr Young said a "handful" of worried New Zealanders had already come forward after buying tickets through unofficial websites.

"The people that get caught are the ones that aren't used to shopping on the internet but who desperately want to be part of the event."

IMG, the company that takes care of Rugby World Cup rights issues, had posted "cease and desist" notices to some of the websites, Mr Young said.

Asked about the likelihood of large numbers of rugby fans being left disappointed by unofficial ticketing issues at next year's tournament, Mr Snedden said: "I don't know at all - that would be pure speculation."

South Africa's Sunday Times reported that a German national and a Dane appeared in the Randburg Magistrate's Court in Johannesburg in June charged with selling illegal soccer World Cup tickets on behalf of Euroteam.

Illegal ticketing resulted in large numbers of fans being denied entry to Cup fixtures.

The only official website for ticket sales: www.rugbyworldcup.com