Exposè: Ticket Scalping Rife At Games

Some of the confiscated tickets

Fake And Not-for-Sale Tickets In High Circulation Around Sydney

Hints As To What To Look For In A Fake Ticket Issued By SOCOG
SYDNEY, THURSDAY SEPT. 21ST-- A flood of tickets has poured onto the market in the last week, as Sydney-siders devour all available tickets in what has become the biggest ticket-selling games in history. Many of these tickets are discards from National Olympic Committees across the world, others are fakes. In an effort to steer buyers clear of these tickets, the Sydney Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (SOCOG) has released a list of hints, dos and don'ts for the unwary ticket purchaser, which is republished below.


SOCOG Directive To Ticket Purchasers
#1: Check That The Event On Your Ticket Is A Real One
Cathy Freeman does not compete in cycling. There is no long jump for horses. At last check, the Sydney Games did not contain an event involving a slow, sultry strip-tease, speed reading or throwing midgets - although these events will all be up for review at the next IOC Assembly in Lausanne. Check that the event listed on your ticket sounds plausible: It happens at every Olympics, but invariably someone will buy a ticket to the underwater high-jump - Don't be fooled.
#2: Look At The Event Time On Your Ticket. Does It Seem Plausible?
As a general rule, there are no events at 2:00 in the morning. Or 3AM. Or even 4AM. In fact, pretty much rule out seeing anything the Olympics has to offer sports-wise between 11PM and 7AM. Also, the Games are held from September 15th until October 1st, so discredit any corporate tickets which promise a "fully-catered Christmas Day lunch". You may love turkey, but ain't no turkey worth paying $485 for.
#3: Make Sure The Ticket Contains Genuine Holograms, SOCOG Authenticity Stamps Etc.
Session times written in crayon are an immediate giveaway here, as are holographic insignia which look to bear the image of a Pokemon character (eg. Pikachu). Tickets are made of a thick-stock cardboard with a holographic in-bed, so tickets printed on rice cakes are another obvious forgery.
#4: If The Person Selling You Tickets Is Drunk/Naked, Look Elsewhere
This one is fairly self-explanatory; the only exception to this rule is on Sunday September 24th, which is SOCOG 'Drunk and Naked Day', where all volunteers, officials and ticket vendors will be naked and drunk. Beware.
#5: Tickets Distributed To Various National Olympic Committees Are Not Permitted For Re-sale. So Don't Buy Them, Dumbass
Yeah, we know, there's not much we can do about this one. The tickets are genuine, and there are people are out there selling them. But you're not s'posed to...Carn, be fair, we wanna make money out of this thing, and we'd rather re-sell unsold freebies at highly inflated prices than let people get them at a discount, so even though for all intents and purposes there's no reason it should be wrong to resell these tickets at vastly reduced rates, it just is - 'cos we said so. So be a sport, and don't buy tickets from people that were originally given to NOC's - it's real naughty.


According to various sources within Federal and State Parliaments in Australia, failure to adhere to these guidelines will result in a grisly firing-squad death under new and controversial Olympic Security Legislation.

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