Gardaí warn of forged Slane tickets
Friday, 18 May 2001 19:05
Gardaí have issued a warning about forged tickets for the upcoming Slane concert. These tickets are being circulated around the country. Gardaí say that they believe this is an organised criminal counterfeit operation. Ticketmaster says that the forged tickets are of a good quality, but are worthless and will not secure admission to the concert featuring U2 and Red Hot Chili Peppers.
One man has been arrested and a small number of forgeries have been seized. Hundreds of the forged tickets have been sold on the Dublin market. Gardaí have seized a small number of them, but detectives believe there are a lot more out there. They are being introduced in small numbers for around £80 each (double the face value), and are offered for sale in magazines and on university campuses around the country.
They are good quality forgeries, but they do not have three necessary security features. They are printed on ordinary, not thermal paper, the hologram is stuck on, not printed, and the bar code is copied and when scanned at the concert will not secure admission. One man has been arrested and questioned about the forgeries after he sold two forgeries, and then tried to sell two more to the same person, all containing the same serial number. A file on the case is being sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions.
The 80,000 authentic U2 tickets sold out in less than one hour last March. Gardaí believe that more tickets from this organised counterfeit operation will be made available as people try to get to Slane.
