Gardaí today warned that hundreds of forged tickets for U2’s upcoming Slane concert are in circulation.
A spokesman for Ticketmaster Ireland, which distributed the tickets, said the counterfeit tickets while of good quality are worthless and will not secure entrance to the concert.
Gardaí believe hundreds of tickets may have been sold. The operation was discovered after a man purchased two tickets advertised in a Dublin third level college. He contacted the gardaí when he noticed that the serial numbers on both tickets were identical.
A man was questioned in relation to the incident and a file is being prepared for the Director of Public Prosecutions. Forged tickets are being offered for sale in colleges, magazines and newspapers at £80 each – double their retail price.
The forgeries can be distinguished by three features. They are printed on ordinary paper, the hologram is stuck on rather printed and the bar code is a copy and will not secure admission.
All 80,000 U2 Slane tickets sold in under an hour last March.