A global ticketing scam has taken advantage of hundreds of people hoping to attend the Summer Olympics in Beijing. The phony tickets were sold via internet on a website with official looking Olympic logos that were attractive enough to sucker people from the US to down under.

From the Times Online:

The website, www.beijingtickets.com, is being investigated after the International Olympic Committee received complaints from hundreds of people in Britain, the US and Australia who had handed over up to £30,000 for tickets to events in Beijing, only to find the tickets did not exist. The IOC is launching legal action in a Californian court today to shut down the site.

The site is currently down, but it’s too little too late. The company has been getting over on people all year.

The website has previously been accused of fleecing British music fans in a similar scam. In March a newspaper investigation found that the site’s parent company, XL & H Ltd had sold non-existent tickets to Take That fans for concerts in Manchester and Glasgow.

There’s no word on how people that paid for the Olympic tickets will be reimbursed, but this once again proves why Joe Paterno doesn’t own a computer.

Beijing Olympics, ticket scam, Summer Games