It is a well organized and well orchestrated crime. Hackers have used the forthcoming Olympic Games in Beijing to sell phony tickets:

“Sports fans around the world have been swindled by an international Internet scam which offered thousands of bogus tickets for the Beijing Games, Olympic officials said on Monday.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced it was taking action to shut down the fraudsters, but the move came too late to help the victims find replacement seats at the Games.”

link: Beijing Games hit by Internet ticket scam

This is another example of hackers using a current event for illicit gain. However, for months and months now, spoofed ticket sites have been mentioned within the security community. The Beijing Olympics simply was on the hackers’ schedule, just like other sporting events such as the World Cup have been.

The lack of policing action, with victims reporting in various countries, demonstrates the problem of co-ordinated sanctions online. It is a matter of who the policing authority is for such activities. When a crime is so well planned and executed, with victims spread all over the planet, the advantage definitely is with the criminal hackers.

Catherine Forsythe