Scores of Australians duped by Olympic ticket scam: reports

0 Comments | AFP, August, 2008

SYDNEY (AFP) — Scores of Australians have been caught in an alleged global scam believed to have conned people worldwide into buying non-existent tickets to the Beijing Olympics, reports said Monday.

The Sydney Morning Herald said one Brisbane man had spent 46,000 dollars (42,876 US) for tickets which never arrived while a Sydney man had lost 10,000 dollars the same way.

Just days ahead of the opening ceremony for the Beijing Games, officials conceded that it appeared many Australians were victims of an elaborate global swindle.

"This appears to be a worldwide scam," Consumer Affairs Minister for the southern state of Victoria, Tony Robinson, said.

"We're very concerned that a lot of people, it would appear, have been taken in by a very professional...