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Liverpool FC said it has found almost 68,000 fake accounts registered with the club as £1.2m of assets relating to ticket touting were seized by police.
The club has worked alongside Merseyside Police to seize upwards of £1.2 million in assets in a huge crackdown on ticket touting, with several cases still ongoing under the Proceeds of Crime Act, the club has announced.
The police operation focused on the laundering of criminal proceeds as a result of the illicit ticket sales, as the club continues to crack down on ticket touting both online and outside the ground.
Liverpool FC said it analysed close to 700,000 ticket registrations last season, with almost 68,000 believed to be from fake accounts, resulting in them being cancelled. A further 121,000 accounts remain under investigation.
The club has since issued 432 lifetime bans – 383 to All Red members, 41 to season ticket holders and eight to seasonal hospitality members, with 115 indefinite suspensions. Typically, indefinite suspensions have a minimum period of three years, after which the account holder must apply for reinstatement.
Targeted stops were also increased outside the ground on matchdays by Liverpool, resulting in those with accounts that had suspicious activity being prevented from entering the grounds. The club said it averaged 300 stops before home games, while also carrying out stop checks at away games.
Detective Chief Inspector Nick Suffield from Merseyside Police’s Economic Crime Team said: ‘This is a fantastic example of partnership working between ourselves and Liverpool Football Club for the good of the fans and the general public.
‘We will always take action to protect genuine fans who fall victim to touts when all they are trying to do is simply purchase tickets to support their team.’
He continued: ‘Our advice to football supporters is clear: don’t buy from ticket touts. You will be taking a huge risk with a lot of money and may ultimately be refused entry to the match with no way of getting your money back.’
