Tickets Scammers Busted

TICKET SCAM BUSTED: Four Californians were indicted for illegally buying and then reselling tickets to sought-after shows like Bruce Springsteen, Hannah Montana and Bon Jovi, the Justice Dept. said today. The scheme yielded some $25 million for the men, three of whom have surrendered to authorities, all principals in Wiseguy Tickets, Inc., which bought prime ducats being sold by Ticketmaster, Tickets.com and MLB.com, then resold them at higher rates. In one instance, the indictment said, Wiseguy Tickets managed to buy nearly half of the 440 general admission floor tickets for a Bruce Springsteen concert at Giants Stadium in July 2008. The defendants apparently worked with computer programmers in Bulgaria to create a network that was able to fool mechanisms that ticket sites have in place to make would-be buyers prove they are humans. (3/1p)