This is a transcript from AM. The program is broadcast around Australia at 08:00 on ABC Local Radio.
TONY EASTLEY: An Australian private investigator claims he knows who’s behind the Olympic ticketing scam. The investigator, Ken Gamble, says it’s the work of 49-year-old, Terance Shepherd from South London; who’s believed to have fled to Barbados.
Shepherd has been linked to other scams and defunct companies. Mr Gamble says he’s provided a dossier on the fraudster to British authorities in the past.
Ken Gamble told correspondent Rafael Epstein that Terance Shepherd has spent two decades defrauding people through fake ticketing scams.
KEN GAMBLE: These guy has just been at it for so long it is unbelievable and to see, we knew he was going to do the Olympic scam 12 months ago.
We had an informant that came forward and told us that Terry Shepherd and his group are going to do a massive big scam at the Beijing Olympics.
RAFAEL EPSTEIN: So why wasn’t he able to be stopped?
KEN GAMBLE: Well, we, we, we wrote letters to the police in London. We wrote letters to the, we sent information to the administrators. We sent information to the ticketing bodies. We did ..
RAFAEL EPSTEIN: These are all British authorities?
KEN GAMBLE: British authorities. We did a story with Tonight with Trevor McDonald on ITV. I was actually interviewed on that show about this whole ticket scamming business. And you know, it is the same old story; people just forget and then they get stung again the following year. It has just been a never-ending story.
RAFAEL EPSTEIN: What do you know about him?
KEN GAMBLE: Well basically, he has been in the ticket business for many, many years; probably in excess of 20 years. And he has owned literally hundreds of websites over that time and a large amount of these websites are registered to this fake company over in Phoenix, Arizona – the same one that was just used in the Beijing Olympics.
He is predominantly; he has been bankrupt as far as I am aware. I have got a fairly extensive dossier on him.
RAFAEL EPSTEIN: So he has done this many times before, you think, with the football World Cup and other events?
KEN GAMBLE: Of course he has. What he does is he sets up these websites. He pays Google and these sort of companies lots of money. Literally hundreds of thousands of pounds sometimes and he gets his ranking up to number one and that is how he sells so many tickets.
Now he oversells so he knows damn well that he is not going to be able to deliver those tickets.
RAFAEL EPSTEIN: In the past the NRL in Australia and sporting bodies in Europe, newspapers here, many people have known about what he is doing. How does he keep on operating?
KEN GAMBLE: Well, they you know, they just can’t seem to stop him because he does it – you know he is very shrewd the way he does this. He puts nominees, you know, he has got other people operating these companies. He puts front people up that basically take the fall and he walks away with all the money. So, you know, he has got himself at arms length to a lot of these websites.
TONY EASTLEY: Private investigator Ken Gamble speaking with our Europe correspondent, Rafael Epstein.
TONY EASTLEY: An Australian private investigator claims he knows who’s behind the Olympic ticketing scam. The investigator, Ken Gamble, says it’s the work of 49-year-old, Terance Shepherd from South London; who’s believed to have fled to Barbados.
Shepherd has been linked to other scams and defunct companies. Mr Gamble says he’s provided a dossier on the fraudster to British authorities in the past.
Ken Gamble told correspondent Rafael Epstein that Terance Shepherd has spent two decades defrauding people through fake ticketing scams.
KEN GAMBLE: These guy has just been at it for so long it is unbelievable and to see, we knew he was going to do the Olympic scam 12 months ago.
We had an informant that came forward and told us that Terry Shepherd and his group are going to do a massive big scam at the Beijing Olympics.
RAFAEL EPSTEIN: So why wasn’t he able to be stopped?
KEN GAMBLE: Well, we, we, we wrote letters to the police in London. We wrote letters to the, we sent information to the administrators. We sent information to the ticketing bodies. We did ..
RAFAEL EPSTEIN: These are all British authorities?
KEN GAMBLE: British authorities. We did a story with Tonight with Trevor McDonald on ITV. I was actually interviewed on that show about this whole ticket scamming business. And you know, it is the same old story; people just forget and then they get stung again the following year. It has just been a never-ending story.
RAFAEL EPSTEIN: What do you know about him?
KEN GAMBLE: Well basically, he has been in the ticket business for many, many years; probably in excess of 20 years. And he has owned literally hundreds of websites over that time and a large amount of these websites are registered to this fake company over in Phoenix, Arizona – the same one that was just used in the Beijing Olympics.
He is predominantly; he has been bankrupt as far as I am aware. I have got a fairly extensive dossier on him.
RAFAEL EPSTEIN: So he has done this many times before, you think, with the football World Cup and other events?
KEN GAMBLE: Of course he has. What he does is he sets up these websites. He pays Google and these sort of companies lots of money. Literally hundreds of thousands of pounds sometimes and he gets his ranking up to number one and that is how he sells so many tickets.
Now he oversells so he knows damn well that he is not going to be able to deliver those tickets.
RAFAEL EPSTEIN: In the past the NRL in Australia and sporting bodies in Europe, newspapers here, many people have known about what he is doing. How does he keep on operating?
KEN GAMBLE: Well, they you know, they just can’t seem to stop him because he does it – you know he is very shrewd the way he does this. He puts nominees, you know, he has got other people operating these companies. He puts front people up that basically take the fall and he walks away with all the money. So, you know, he has got himself at arms length to a lot of these websites.
TONY EASTLEY: Private investigator Ken Gamble speaking with our Europe correspondent, Rafael Epstein.
0 comments:
Post a Comment