Vancouver Games hit by two-million-dollar ticket scam

VANCOUVER — The 2010 Winter Olympics were hit by a two-million-dollar (Canadian) ticket scam by a Latvian criminal ring, the Vancouver Olympic Committee (VANOC) revealed.

VANOC confirmed at the first board meeting since the February Games that the criminal gang, thought to number more than 30, used stolen Visa credit cards to purchase tickets on its "Fan to Fan Marketplace" website.

The site was set up in December as the official and most secure method for fans to re-sell tickets at any price. For the service, VANOC took a 10 percent commission from both the buyer and seller.

Three Latvians - Maris Latvijas Avens, 32, Andris Stuks, 30, Arturs Abroskins, 20 - were arrested by police when picking up the tickets.

Stuks and Abroskins were found guilty in British Columbia provincial court in March. The three men were later deported.

VANOC Chief Financial Officer John McLaughlin said they became aware of the scam in the last week of the Games after an examination of the volume and transactions going on in certain accounts. The site had more than 13,000 accounts but only about 200 were "compromised".

"The credit cards were actually approved so went through the protocol you've got for any kind of online sale - we followed that," he said.

McLaughlin wouldn't speculate how many tickets were involved but said it was in "the thousands".

VANOV, which held all the money for transactions carried out through the site, have delayed payment to the ticket sellers.

They plan to honor all payments and are currently talking with their insurer about how to recover the losses.

"We took the position that they (the sellers) didn't know who they were selling to because it came through us. We felt that they were following what we had asked people to do, which was go on our website and sell it here as a safe way to do it. We didn't feel right that they get left in the cold."

McLaughlin said there was no doubt the lost revenue could affect the bottom line for VANOC's long-held goal of achieving a balanced budget. Financial figures will not be available until the fall.