Fake tickets, overbooking… At the Louvre, a vast network of fraud involving museum agents dismantled

This is a new scandal that the Louvre could have done without. This Tuesday, February 10, the police made several arrests as part of a vast ticketing scam, involving the sale of fake tickets and the overbooking of guided tours.

According to our information, this operation led to the arrest of nine people, including two museum agents and two tourist guides, suspected of having participated in this network. The Chinese community would be particularly targeted by these scams.

Hundreds of thousands of euros seized

According to a police source, three vehicles were also seized, as well as 130,000 euros in cash, nearly 200,000 euros placed in bank accounts, as well as several bank safes with the same sum in cash inside.

Contacted, the Louvre Museum explains that it is “facing an increase and diversification of ticketing fraud”, pushing it to “put in place a structured plan to combat fraud”, in particular via “preventive and curative actions (…) and monitoring of their results”.

The museum suspects “major fraud”

The institution also indicates that the operation of which it is the subject “was carried out following the report of the Louvre Museum as part of its anti-fraud policy and the ongoing interactions of the museum’s teams with the police forces on fraud practices”.

“In view of the elements of which the museum is aware, the existence of a network organizing a large-scale fraud is suspected”, concludes the Louvre museum, adding that “it is up to the ongoing investigations to shed light on the reported actions”. Contacted, the Paris public prosecutor’s office has so far not responded to our requests.