The Cincinnati Police Department’s Financial Crimes Squad is currently investigating the cyber theft of about 400 premium tickets for Cincinnati Reds games at the Great American Ball Park.
Police Lt. Mark Briede confirmed to TicketNews that the investigation is underway, which is centering on stolen credit card numbers which were used to illegally buy the tickets online from various unnamed Web sites. The tickets were for the team’s Diamond Club section directly behind home plate, and carry face value prices in excess of $250 each.
“This has never happened before as far as I know,” Briede said, adding the Financial Crimes Squad handles fraud, cyber crime and theft by deception cases, among others. “It’s still early in the investigation.”
Team officials discovered the thefts in July when a significant number of chargebacks were coming in for fraudulent credit card orders, and customers were complaining to them that they had not made the purchases. The police were called in on the case last week, Briede said.
The Reds did not respond today to a request by TicketNews seeking comment. In a statement, the team said the stolen tickets are being resold through “unauthorized Web sites and third-party listings,” but they did not elaborate on which specific sites were reselling tickets. Only Diamond Club tickets that are being resold which use the print-at-home delivery method are affected. That feature has been temporarily shut down.
Currently, online ticket purchases can be mailed to customers, or picked up at kiosks at the stadium.
In a separate cyber crime from last fall, federal law enforcement began an ongoing investigation into a massive online breach surrounding Colorado Rockies World Series tickets.
