Secret shoppers on the prowl for illicit 2010 Olympic tickets
Games enlists shoppers to help trace fake 2010 Olympic tickets. Secret shoppers on the prowl for illicit tickets will be part of a consumer protection campaign being launched next week by Vancouver Olympic organizers.
The Real 2010 campaign, aimed at building consumer awareness about the importance of authentic Games merchandise and tickets, kicks off with advertisements and coincides with an anti-counterfeiting conference in Vancouver.
Trade in counterfeit merchandise is illegal and puts consumers at risk, as fakes are not made according to the same safety, quality and sustainability standards as official goods, the Vancouver Organizing Committee said yesterday. The campaign will urge consumers to check for holograms attached to official merchandise.
Backed by the International Olympic Committee, VANOC will deploy secret shoppers to purchase tickets from unauthorized dealers, trace the origin of the tickets and disable tickets from unauthorized sources.
Scalped tickets have long been an issue at Olympic Games. About 30 per cent of all available tickets are allocated to members of the so-called Olympic family, including official corporate sponsors, national Olympic committees and other sporting organizations with Olympic ties. Large numbers of those tickets tend to wind up with brokers. VANOC has vowed to crack down on the practice.
