San Francisco Examiner: Got some All-Star game tickets to peddle? The San Francisco police are issuing a warning that scalpers and counterfeit merchandise hawkers are on notice.
With tickets for All-Star weekend running just shy of $2,000 on Craigslist, Major League Baseball and local and federal law enforcement agencies will clamp down on ticket scalping and illegal production and sale of counterfeit merchandise when baseball’s heaviest hitters, slickest fielders and nastiest pitchers arrive in The City beginning next week.
Counterfeiters prey on big-time events such as the Super Bowl, a World Series game or an All-Star Game, hoping to rake in big dollars from impulsive fans looking for a quick souvenir to remember the event, officials said.
Throughout All-Star weekend, which runs July 6-10, undercover investigators will look for illegal merchandise at AT&T Park, the Moscone Center and manufacturing facilities, retail stores and sidewalk vendors in and around The City, according to Major League Baseball.
In the last six months, Major League Baseball has seized 493,000 units of merchandise — apparel, hats, jerseys, T-shirts, jewelry, baseball cards and key chains, among other types — from counterfeiters, said Ethan Orlinsky, the senior vice president and general counsel for Major League Baseball Properties. At one Manhattan store alone, they seized 40,000 illegally produced hats, he said.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce estimated 750,000 American jobs have been lost to counterfeiters, and the illegal activity also cost legitimate businesses $250 billion annually, Orlinsky said.