Buzz
The Louvre Museum in France is on high alert due to Chinese tourists using fake tickets for entry.
These tickets are suspected to be manufactured in China and sold to Chinese guides leading tourist groups into the Louvre Museum.
The Louvre, one of the most attractive tourist destinations in the capital of France, has seen the emergence of fake entrance tickets priced as high as 36 euros since early August.
Throughout August, museum staff discovered dozens of Chinese tourists using various-quality counterfeit tickets.
A museum spokesperson stated: 'The museum staff identified a fake ticket presented by a Chinese guide on August 12. The ticket felt unusual to the touch, with subpar print quality. Immediately, all museum personnel were alerted.'
In the following days, numerous instances of using fake tickets to enter the museum were discovered, with many tickets looking indistinguishable from genuine ones.
By the end of August, Belgian customs reached out to French authorities, reporting the discovery of over 4000 fake tickets valued at least 144,000 euros in a shipment from China.
The Louvre Museum notes: 'The organized criminals involved in this operation seem to have collaborated with tour operators bringing Chinese tourists to visit landmarks in France.' They added: 'Each ticket has a validity period of one year. It is currently impossible to determine how many fake tickets have been circulated, and there is no way to calculate the damages the museum has incurred.'
***
Source: Mytour Travel Guide – Courtesy of: Khampha
MytourSeptember 12, 2013
