Soccer Saturday tricked as part of Premier League ticket campaign
Friday 27 November 2015 11:28, UK
The Premier League have launched an awareness campaign, warning football fans of the dangers of purchasing tickets from unofficial sources.
The sale of fake and fraudulent tickets is a growing issue in English football with illegal activity happening every week online and at grounds across the country. The Premier League is working closely with clubs to address an increasing threat that is affecting both domestic and international fans.
There were 25,000 fraudulent Manchester United tickets with a street value of £8 million on sale during 2014/15 season. Crystal Palace have cancelled 375 memberships for fraudulent ticketing activity.
"The problem with touting now is it's not so much outside stadiums, it's also online," said Cathy Long of the Premier League. "People are turning up at grounds expecting to get in and see the match, they've paid a fortune and there isn't even a ticket there when they arrive. The best thing for fans to do is to buy from the official club sources or through their official ticket exchanges."
To promote the campaign, the Premier League have created a series of tricks videos performed by Ben Hanlin on unsuspecting fans outside grounds and stars from the world of football.
See what happened when he visited the Soccer Saturday team in the videos above.
To avoid disappointment, the Premier League is urging fans to buy match tickets directly from Premier League clubs and their official ticketing partners only. To find out more fans can go to: http://www.premierleague.com/safe-ticket-buying
