More than 100 fakes discovered at recent sellout
By Christian Bottorff, The Tennessean
With tomorrow’s playoff game a sellout, law enforcement officials are stepping up efforts to nab an organized group they say is behind distribution of high-quality counterfeit Tennessee Titans tickets.
The heightened enforcement follows a recent sellout Monday night game against the New England Patriots when 119 counterfeit tickets were presented at The Coliseum gates.
The Titans play the Pittsburgh Steelers in a division playoff game, with both teams hoping to advance to the conference championship game.
Titans officials said they are concerned because the counterfeiters had closely replicated a real ticket.
The fakes were discovered when they failed to scan with electronic equipment that reads bar codes printed on the tickets. Fans presenting them were turned away, as will be any fans who arrive tomorrow with a counterfeit ticket in hand, Titans Executive Vice President Don MacLachlan said.
Officials said they had no evidence any counterfeit tickets are on the streets for tomorrow’s game. But Titans officials yesterday urged fans not to buy tickets on the streets or from strangers.
The illegal ticket trade has been a problem not only in Nashville but in Pennsylvania, Georgia and Ohio, Metro police Chief Emmett Turner said yesterday.
“This is very serious,” he said. “The printing is obviously from a distribution ring and not from some local individual who is printing them on a computer.”
Police spokesman Don Aaron said the charge against any counterfeit ticket suspect would be criminal simulation, a Class E felony.
The police department’s fraud and intelligence units are investigating, Turner said. MacLachlan said a security team from the National Football League would arrive today to assist them.
MacLachlan said elements of valid Titans tickets to look for are a watermark on the back of the season ticket, visible when scratched with the side of a coin. Game tickets on Ticketmaster stock have a thin, blue layer of paper in the middle of the ticket, visible when paper is torn.