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FRENCH POLICE ARE investigating an apparent scam involving fake tickets for the Louvre museum in Paris after top-quality counterfeits were found in the hands of Chinese tourists.
The probe was launched after agents found false tickets being used on several occasions last month by Chinese tourists and tour guides, a source at the Louvre — one of the world’s largest and most-visited museums — told AFP.
At first the tickets were of poor quality, but then some seized on 14 August were found to be of “very good quality, perfect clones of our tickets”, the source said.
The museum filed a criminal complaint on 15 August.
“We uncovered several more fake tickets in the following days, but we have not intercepted any since 26 August,” the source said.
“We are being very watchful because these tickets are valid for a year.”
A judicial official said police had questioned several tour guides in connection with the case but that no charges had been laid.
The source said that around the same time the tickets were discovered, Belgian customs officials alerted French authorities that they had seized about 3,600 counterfeit tickets for the Louvre hidden in a package sent from China.
The Louvre — home to the Mona Lisa, the Venus de Milo and other famed artworks — is one of Paris’s most-frequented sites, with about nine million visitors a year.
Standard tickets for the museum’s permanent collection cost between €11.60 and €13.60.
In April, the museum was forced to close for a day after workers staged a walkout to protest what staff said were increasingly aggressive gangs of pickpockets targeting the site.
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Don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time.
@Andrew Behan: Well in Ireland you can do the crime but won’t do time
@Andrew Behan: how can you do 150 years
@Michael Sherlock: with good behaviour he would be out in 110 years , no bother.
@Michael Sherlock: give it your best shot, just try!
If he had done this in Ireland back then he would have been in the Galway tent drinking cocktails and regaling the countries elite on how he does it. Upon conviction in 09 he would be out by now practising his handicap.
He should have thought about it when he was swindling.
Have I sympathy for his condition… yes
But he knew what he was doing.
Pity the same deterrent isn’t in play here, I would imagine a lot of people here are thanking their lucky stars they are in Ireland.
This guy caused the Global crash. No way are you compassion off me…. think about the misery he caused to others first.
@Paul O’Sullivan: “This guy caused the Global crash”
No he didn’t.
He defrauded a whole bunch of rich Hollywood and celebrity types and he made about $20 billion in investors money disappear.
Small potatoes when compared to what happened during the crash.
@Will: not just Hollywood celebrity types. Plenty of school teachers and construction workers with a few quid saved up bought into his BS too.
@Martin McFly:
He has served 11 years… If the Medics agree then I would release him on a 6 month by 6 month basis…
Despite what some people say here, Prison is not about revenge it is about rehab. Is Madoff a threat to anyone in society? I very much doubt so…
Whats the point, Madoff released or in prison doesn’t send any messages anymore…
@Paul O’Sullivan: can’t cheat an honest man. Wise words.
@Will: an article from 2008 .
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2008/12/mado-d18.html
Keep the head down Seanie
He was sentenced to die in prison so be it
Jailed because of his own stupidity. He should have set up and operated from Ireland, he wouldn’t have had any jail time and FFG would have paid to fight his case.
@G Row:
Hahaha. I got a good laugh from that. Good man. So true too by the way.
And….
Bernie Madoff was convicted of perpetrating roughly the same thing that Fine Gael want to do here with their ‘Project Ireland 2040′.
It is a giant Ponzi Scheme where you add new people to the bottom to pay off the people at the top.
In the US you get jail time in Ireland you get air time to promote it.
Very strange that his lawyers chose the Lockerbie bomber as an example – he was received in Libya as a national hero and, as the article says, went on to live another 3 years. I remember Pinochet made a miraculous recovery once he was allowed home from Thatcher’s care. Not even Alan Dershowitz can get him out alive, I doubt
Let him rot in there. Why does he think he deserves special treatment?
Bernie made off with other peoples money. Crooked.
He deserves to die in prison he destroyed so many families including his own
Over here, we would have had a protest group group pointing out all the good that Bernie did through charitable organisations …true !
Bernie was an Equal Opportunity thief – he stole from everybody, not just a select minority – so give the guy a break and let him make his peace with his family while there’s still time. Maybe he’ll cough up the rest of the hidden loot.
I distinctly remember looking through his prospectus as a no nothing 23 year old thinking it was odd his returns were so consistent. Thankfully we never heaped client money in, like the experienced “pro’s” who did.
have your say