Arsenal 'loan' ticket scam uncovered
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Scammed? Were these fans ripped off by illegal ticket touts and their 'membership loan' scheme?
A scheme to sell illegal tickets to matches at Arsenal's home ground has been exposed in the run-up to tonight's Champions League quarter-final first leg with Liverpool at the Emirates Stadium. According to reports in the Evening Standard, touts have discovered a way to circumvent Arsenal's membership card system which was designed to prevent the lucrative but illegal re-selling of match tickets.
The report says membership cards have been available for "loan" from a booth near to Piccadilly Circus in Central London. Fans interested in going to tonight's sold-out game are being asked to pay £225 - a mark-up of almost £180 on the cheapest tickets - plus a £50 deposit to ensure they return the card the next day.
The ruse works because each "fan" who becomes a member of Arsenal Football Club is issued with a swipe card, onto which they are able to "load" games if they are successful in applying for a ticket a match at the permanently sold-out stadium.
With each successful application Arsenal email the member the location of the seat, without ever sending out a paper ticket and the fans are then able to swipe their cards at the turnstile to the Emirates Stadium to gain access to their spot in the stands.
So a tout is able to pose as a "fan" and pass on the card and the relevant seating information to somebody who actually wants to attend the match in question. A tout told the Standard reporter that nothing could be easier, despite the fact he was issuing a woman's membership card, with her name, to a man: "That's all fine. All you have to do is swipe the card on a box outside the turnstile.
"There will be no questions and Arsenal don't suspect a thing. Don't worry, just tell them you've had a sex change. "But honestly they won't stop you and if they do, tell them it is your girlfriend's membership card and she can't make it."
Instructions on the Arsenal website confirm the lack of checks in place at the venue to ensure the correct person is using the card, although it does suggest bringing the above confirmation email "which will detail the Quadrant, Turnstile Area, Block Row and Seat, that you have purchased for a particular match".
The tout said that the scheme benefits everyone as he claimed he would pass on some of the money to the card's real owner who is a real football fan.
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