JOIN USA fraudster who took part in what police describe as the biggest ticket scam they uncovered at the London 2012 Olympics has been jailed for four years.
Christakis Ioannou, 44, of Crantock Road, Catford, pleaded guilty on 6 September 2012 at Kingston Crown Court, to participating in a fraudulent business and possessing and concealing criminal property, a report in the Daily Mail said.
Christakis Ioannou, set up two fake websites nearly a year out from the Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games.
Designed to look official the sites offered for sale unlimited numbers of tickets for all Olympic events.
In five weeks alone the sites took over 450,000 euros in sales for non existent tickets to the Olympics. Detectives from Podium tracked the websites back to Ioannou, who was based in Portugal. He regularly travelled between Portugal and the UK and was arrested as he stepped off a flight from Portugal at Gatwick airport. A search of Ioannou by Detectives recovered 17,500 euros hidden in his shoes, cash from his fraudulent ticket sales.
The investigation uncovered bank accounts opened in Portugal by Ioannou that had been used to channel funds from both websites, all the money paid in had been withdrawn in cash. The websites were identified as part of Podium’s proactive trawls of the internet to identify and clamp down on websites illegally selling the sought after tickets.