Fans warned over £500,000 ticket fraud from these five websites
Six men, aged between 25 and 45, and two women, aged 25 and 35, all from Essex and London have been arrested and bailed until dates in April and May while investigations continue into offences of conspiracy to defraud and money laundering of more than £500,000.
The arrests were made following hundreds of reports of people being scammed after buying tickets to sporting events.
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Hide AdThe investigation was launched after Essex Police were contacted by the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB) regarding a company called Touchline Tickets. The NFIB analyses and assesses all reports made to Action Fraud.
The websites which are the focal point of the investigation are touchlinetickets.com, touchlinetickets.net, getsporting.com, greenpitchtickets.com and tickets4summergames.com
Victims have reported losing more than £5.2 million to ticket fraud last year. In June 2015 alone Action Fraud received 533 reports of ticket fraud, which included some of the websites under investigation.
With a number of large sporting events coming up this year, including the Rio 2016 Olympic Games and UEFA Euro 2016, police are urging people to only use official sources.
The investigation is continuing: anyone with concerns who has not already contacted the police can speak to Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040.