Ticket scam at Estádio do Dragão made nearly €50,000 per match | OneFootball

The PSP, in collaboration with FC Porto, dismantled a fraudulent ticket-selling scheme at Estádio do Dragão that, according to the MaisFutebol portal, may have yielded nearly 50,000 euros per game for those involved.

Since the beginning of the season, 40 season seats intended for illegal resale on a game-by-game basis have been detected, and about 300 member tickets were transacted through alternative channels, reports the same source.

MaisFutebol also points to the existence of two shell companies used in the illicit sale of tickets.

The situation was being monitored by the Dragons in conjunction with the Porto Metropolitan Command of the PSP, which intervened and dismantled the scheme after three home games of FC Porto this season (against V. Guimarães, Casa Pia, and Nacional).

Sources from our newspaper reveal that an FC Porto member allegedly used data from other members to acquire about 40 season seats.

These seats were resold game by game on platforms like Viagogo or StubHub, with the victims—mostly emigrants and tourists buying online—being barred at the entrance because the identification did not match the member data on the annual tickets.

There are records of tickets sold for 600 euros through this scheme, which reportedly earned the violators about 50,000 euros just in the game against V. Guimarães.

Combating the illegal resale of tickets was one of the main goals of Villas-Boas' campaign for the presidency of FC Porto, and the board led by him implemented, at the beginning of this season, a profound restructuring of the ticketing system in football and other sports, creating a mechanism for the resale of season seats through the club's platforms, with compensation credited to the member's account.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇵🇹 here.