Three arrests in concert tickets scam

One victim alone paid more than £2,000 after sending a cheque for tickets he never received

Three people have been arrested over the sale of non-existent gig tickets.

Police believe hundreds have been duped out of more than £1m after buying tickets for music events which they never received.

One victim alone paid more than £2,000 after sending a cheque for concert tickets he never received, police said.

Two men, aged 68 and 54, and a 62-year-old woman were arrested and taken to a south London police station on suspicion of fraud.

New website

After ordering tickets from bogus online stores, customers were told their credit cards had been declined and they must instead send a cheque for the full amount, the Metropolitan Police (Met) said.

The premises of worldwideticketstore, in south London, were visited by Southwark Trading Standards earlier in 2010, following a number of complaints, but the company then ceased operating and vacated the address.

The Met has now identified a new website, livelinetickets.com, which is believed to be linked to the same network.

It believes this site was also set up to fraudulently sell tickets for major events and concerts and has removed it from the web.

Acting Det Insp Claire Pluckrose said: "We believe we have disrupted a significant criminal network which has been profiting from taking hard-earned cash from innocent members of the public who have been duped into buying bogus concert tickets."