August 05, 2008
AUSTRALIAN victims of the global Olympic ticketing scam have been duped out of almost $100,000 - and the figure is rising.
The International Olympic Committee has received complaints from hundreds of alleged victims in Australia and around the world who were tricked into buying tickets on a fake website.
At least 33 victims in four Australian states report losing a total of $96,900 after ordering tickets on the US-based website beijingticketing.com.
Daniel Swinnerton of Cabarita, whose girlfriend Alex Croak is competing in the diving in Beijing, has been cheated out of $3500.
"I made my purchases for diving, water polo and boxing back on June 14 and it all seemed reasonable," he said.
"I paid $550 for a ticket to the diving preliminaries and found out later the official website had them priced at $44. I was happy to pay a premium because the tickets were so highly sought after.
"I sent my credit card number on final payment and received a receipt with dates -- they charged me $40 extra to send the tickets by registered post."
A Queensland man is believed to have lost $46,000 before as a national hotline was set up for victims.
Last night the site was still operating but has since gone offline. Olympic officials are expected to ask a judge in California to shut the site down within the next 24 hours.
Former NSW opposition leader Kerry Chikarovski, among those stung in fraud, said she believed the website had been running for 10 months.
"The whole set-up is so professionally done you just assumed it was right. I can't believe the IOC would not have been keeping an eye on it," she said.
The Daily Telegraph