Link to Olympics Tickets Scammers Found

8/2/2008

Lawyers investigating the fraudulent sales of tickets to the Summer Olympics have identified a London-based computer consultant as someone who might know the people behind the scam, and perhaps even how the scam was carried out. Ali Nasir, a self-described “author, developer, analyst and consultant” on e-commerce, was found to have worked for Xclusive Leisure & Hospitality LTD, the owner of at least one of the websites said to have fraudulently promised buyers Olympics tickets.

Nasir, who curiously enough authored a story titled “Dilemma of Buying Tickets Online, ” worked as a search engine optimization/marketing analyst for Xclusive Leisure & Hospitality, which according to news reports is the parent firm of beijingticketing.com. The U.S. Olympic Committee has put beijingticketing.com, along with eight other websites, on a list of those making empty guarantees to provide tickets to the Olympics.

In a March 9, 2008, story on rogue ticket websites, The Observer, a major London newspaper, noted that beijingticketing.com claimed to be headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona, but that the address given was instead the offices of a lawyer specializing in company start-ups. Xclusive Leisure & Hospitality, The Observer said, was actually based in Delaware, within the jurisdiction of the U.S.

Others looking into the location of Xclusive Leisure & Hospitality, however, have been unable to find it listed among Delaware-based corporations. And one Phoenix man who went to the address listed for beijingticketing.com says he was told by the building’s manager that a company by that name had asked about renting space, but never actually rented any. This difficulty in tracking down Xclusive Leisure & Hospitality’s true location is one reason that speaking to people who have worked for the firm, people such as Ali Nasir, is important.