Olympic ticket scams
Beware of ticket scams and fake sportswear is the message from Buckinghamshire County Council Trading Standards officers as the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games year dawns.
They are alerting residents to be on their guard against authentic-looking websites promising Games tickets that will never materialise, and sellers offering Olympic-badged clothing that isn't the real thing.
Their warning comes during National Consumer Week (November 21-25) which, with the slogan Good Sports Don't Fake It, highlights the pitfalls of buying tickets and merchandise from unathorised sites and sellers.
Buckinghamshire's Trading Standards team will step up vigilance during 2012, and at Games time will be on duty at Dorney Lake in the south of the county, where sprint-canoe, rowing and kayak events take place, to watch for ticket touts and counterfeit clothing bearing fake Olympic badging.
Meanwhile, between now and the Games, bogus ticket websites will spring up in Britain and abroad, warns Terry Carter, Buckinghamshire's Trading Standards Manager.
"They'll promise tickets that will never be delivered, charge you over the odds, and then disappear without trace" said Terry. "My strong advice is not to deal with anyone other than the official London 2012 site."
He also warns residents to beware of online vendors and street sellers offering badged clothing and sportswear that tries to pass as authentic. "It's nothing of the sort" said Terry. "It'll be poor quality, cheap and look nothing like the real thing."
Martin Phillips, Cabinet Member for Community Engagement, said: "Our trading standards officers are always very vigilant on scams and fakes. I don't want our residents' 2012 celebrations to be ruined by people selling tickets that aren't worth the paper they're printed on or poor imitation clothing. If the deal looks too good to be true, it probably is!"
