Address:
Bagrationovskiy proezd, 7, blk 11, Moscow 121087, Russia
Email:
o.semenov@els24.com — for cooperation
Ticket hunting.
04/06/2018
Comment of the leader of the Multilingual support center for fans Oleg Semenov to a journalist of the "Moscow Komsomolets", Ms. Uliana Urban.
Yesterday a fraudster who was selling fake tickets to the World Cup matches in the capital of Russia was arrested. The young man sold two cherished tickets to a respectable businessman for 150 thousand rubles! Fortunately, the cheated businessman checked tickets for authenticity a day before the match. In fact, the search for tickets for the games of the World Cup is similar to hunting. And it was a glorious hunt... At least we hope that the fans who were lucky to get tickets for the games they wanted will say so. Because in order to buy a ticket for matches you want to see, and not just any, is a real sport too. And this is the sport the fans have been practicing during the past weeks. At night, during work, round the clock and in many different ways.
We’re not selling for profit here!
The easiest tickets to buy were for the matches Panama-Tunisia or Denmark-Peru in Saransk. People were buying them too, because they didn’t want to miss the chance to enjoy the atmosphere of the World Cup, take a selfie at the stadium and visit the main football event in the world and it could be the only one. Later, some lucky fans managed to buy tickets for more interesting matches. And then it turned out that there were too many tickets, and it was already almost impossible to get to Saransk or Volgograd on free trains, because all the seats had been booked. It's very expensive to go to some cities at your own expense. And, for example, Sochi residents who have tickets for games in Kaliningrad, would be happy to exchange with Kaliningradians who bought tickets to "Fisht". And Yekaterinburg, for example, would simply sell at par value the right to visit the stadium "St. Petersburg", because it's just too far away.
How do you do it? How do you find each other? And how do you comply with all the rules of FIFA and the laws of Russia while transfer or resale?
A Telegram channel was created exactly for these purposes, it has almost 900 followers at the moment. People come and go if they get what they want. Or didn't get and already do not hope.
Judging by the messages in Telegram, the majority wants to get tickets for the matches in Moscow. And preferably the cheapest, the fourth category. Well, at least, the third. Such wishes are already starting to annoy the participants and organizers. There are calls to be more reasonable and realize that those who want to exchange or sell Moscow games are very few. For the convenience of users, community members use hashtags #buy, #sell, #exchange etc. And many times there were calls to ban users writing #buy and #moscow.
The most popular the matches were Argentina-Iceland, Germany-Mexico and Brazil-Serbia (all of them take place in Moscow). Meanwhile, the matches with the participation of the Russian team caused much less excitement. Users even joked after a poor game against Austria: now the price tag for matches of the Russian national team will drop.
It’s difficult to say how many people managed to agree on an exchange or sale, because all transactions took place in private messages. They also agreed on the transfer of the right for free travel on a special train (if the ticket holder has one) and decide on the way they will exchange tickets: tickets for tickets or tickets for money.
If someone tries to sell at least 10 percent above the face value, they will be banned immediately: We are not selling for profit here! Since the illegal sale of tickets is a violation of the administrative code, one may get a fine of at least 50 thousand rubles.
However, this article of the Administrative Code introduced for the World Cup 2018 reads that "sale, resale, distribution, distribution, exchange or other use, whether or not connected with the extraction of profits" is called "illegal sale of tickets." In addition, the fans are afraid that they may face a problem at the entrance because of the discrepancy between the name on the ticket and the name in the FAN ID. Even the experienced fans can neither reassure them nor warn them just yet. They say that there were no such problems at the Confederations Cup and there are unlikely to be now, because it would be unrealistic for the volunteers to check all the viewers for the names. But the exact answer can be obtained only after the first matches are held.
«If it is a special operation, then everything is possible».
Legal support for the guys who organized similar platforms for ticket exchange is provided by the Fans Support Center. We asked the head of this center, Mr. Oleg Semenov, for a comment on the matter:
- I was asked by a group of fans of Spartak who created the Telegram channel for exchange of tickets for the matches of the World Cup 2018. They asked for advise on legal issues due to the fact that the article on illegal ticket sales in the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation was made specifically for the World Cup. Also, many people have questions regarding the FAN ID, whether they will be allowed to the stadium, if the name on the ticket does not match the name in FAN ID. Speculators immediately get banned, because the objective of this community is different. And even if people who wrote for everyone that they sell at face value, then they wind up the price on personal messages, Channel administrators also put on the blacklist people who writes that they sell tickets at face value and then they wind up the price in personal messages.
- Oleg, in the very article of the administrative code it is written that it is illegal to even exchange tickets without extracting profits...
- Yes, but it's hard to prove. Only if I gave you a ticket, and you wrote a statement to the police. This is hardly possible.
- And if I'm a police officer trying to buy a ticket from you under cover?
- If there is a special operation, then everything is possible. But in my opinion no one will spend such resources on ordinary fans who simply help each other to get to the World Cup without any personal gain.
- What about the correspondence of names in the ticket and FAN IDs?
- Firstly, if people sell guest tickets, they can re-register them in another name in their personal account. Secondly, who will check the names at the entrance? And a big question is whether they will have such authority. Thirdly, there are sponsorship tickets, on which no name is written at all. What should be checked? So, I think, this will not be a problem.
«I will pay you in advance».
The same groups exist in other social networks. But if, for example, the VKontakte audience is Russian, in Facebook there are a lot of foreigners who are doing the same: exchange or sale. "Our agents" try to penetrate there as well. Some try their luck in search of the coveted matches, for example, Argentina-Iceland, in the hope that foreigners do not want to watch it so much. Then there are those who are trying to sell the fourth category tickets to foreigners (which costs 1,280 rubles only for citizens of the Russian Federation, which at the current rate is approximately 17 euros) – «I have fourth category tickets: two for Denmark - Australia (each for 75 euros), three for Poland - Colombia (each for 125 euros), four for England - Belgium (each for 150 euros). If you are interested and want to meet, I live in Amsterdam and will also be in London from 8 to 10 June» - writes enterprising compatriot Roman Maltsev-Jones.
Foreigners are very specific guys. Not just "I want tickets to St. Petersburg", but "I need 1 ticket for Egypt - Russia, category 1, sector A111" - the voice of the inhabitant of Oklahoma City named Ahmed El-Dib, clearly an Egyptian.
By the way, many were surprised that the second place after Russia in the list of countries whose residents bought tickets are occupied by Americans, whose team did not even get to this World Cup. Some of them are really just well-to-do American football fans, who wants to enjoy visiting an interesting country, especially during such a colossal event. But most of them are Egyptians from Oklahoma City. Or Mexicans from Texas. Or Panamanians from Los Angeles.
Also, foreigners are very naive. For example, a resident of Hong Kong, Rosh Pritmani, who has already written several times that he is eager to buy three tickets for the semifinal match in St. Petersburg writes - "I will pay you in advance, before you give me a ticket."
New batches of tickes, bots and insomnia.
If you do not want to get involved into risky exchange deals but you have the excitement and the opportunity to not sleep at night, then you can still catch your lucky ticket on the official website of FIFA.
«New batch! Let's get to your account! "- sometimes such cries are heard in the apartment of a correspondent of MK at about 1 in the morning. In the family of a sports journalist everyone loves football and also wants to get to the World Cup matches. Some tickets were bought during the first stages of sales, but there are even more interesting matches ahead, which already the next day after the start of the third stage (will last until the very end) glowed inaccessible gray. All of them, even the most expensive categories.
But then it turned out that sometimes at night there are "ticket infusions" on the FIFA website. Fans sometimes return previously purchased tickets at the ticket centers or discard them in their accounts and then tickets are sent back to the site.
Experts write programs and create bots, which instantly notify about the next tranches. Some of them are free. For example, in Telegram there are several channels in which they post information about new tickets and even ticket category at night.
It does not happen every night. And there is no regularity. They can throw tickets two or three nights in a row and then there may be a break in one, two or several nights. But even if you catch the moment, while you turn on the computer, go into your account, and then wait for your turn, all the delicious will be sold out. Sometimes this "delicious" returns to the site after a while. One put in the basket every available ticket (but not all of them will end in your basket, because just a fraction of a second before a man thousands of kilometers away from you has already pointed his cursor at the ticket and clicked) and then refuses those tickets that are less attractive for him or to where the trip is too expensive (meanwhile monitoring the prices of air and railway tickets) or just for which his credit card lacks funds. And just like that you can get to the affordable tickets of the third or second category for the wonderful matches Argentina - Croatia in Nizhny Novgorod or Germany - Mexico in Moscow at three o’clock in the morning.
The longest stay available tickets for the matches in Saransk and Volgograd. Sometimes even a cheap fourth category tickets. It happens probably because there are no tickets left for free trains to these cities and it's quite expensive to go there by air. Surprisingly, the opening match between Russia and Saudi Arabia was not so popular either. At least the first and second categories tickets could lie unwanted all night long till the morning.
Then there are free bots where the bot author drops a link from time to time where you can "support" it with a minimum amount of 200 rubles. Or you can "support" directly using the credit card. He even conducted a survey among members of the community, whether they consider him a huckster if he asks for money for his work. 95% said they do not. Then in the Telegram channel there was a message that only 20 people out of 350 have paid and if it continues like this the notifications of the new batches will either be delayed or be sent only to those who have paid. Apparently, in the coming days it will already be a paid channel.
Yesterday a fraudster who was selling fake tickets to the World Cup matches in the capital of Russia was arrested. The young man sold two cherished tickets to a respectable businessman for 150 thousand rubles! Fortunately, the cheated businessman checked tickets for authenticity a day before the match. In fact, the search for tickets for the games of the World Cup is similar to hunting. And it was a glorious hunt... At least we hope that the fans who were lucky to get tickets for the games they wanted will say so. Because in order to buy a ticket for matches you want to see, and not just any, is a real sport too. And this is the sport the fans have been practicing during the past weeks. At night, during work, round the clock and in many different ways.
We’re not selling for profit here!
The easiest tickets to buy were for the matches Panama-Tunisia or Denmark-Peru in Saransk. People were buying them too, because they didn’t want to miss the chance to enjoy the atmosphere of the World Cup, take a selfie at the stadium and visit the main football event in the world and it could be the only one. Later, some lucky fans managed to buy tickets for more interesting matches. And then it turned out that there were too many tickets, and it was already almost impossible to get to Saransk or Volgograd on free trains, because all the seats had been booked. It's very expensive to go to some cities at your own expense. And, for example, Sochi residents who have tickets for games in Kaliningrad, would be happy to exchange with Kaliningradians who bought tickets to "Fisht". And Yekaterinburg, for example, would simply sell at par value the right to visit the stadium "St. Petersburg", because it's just too far away.
How do you do it? How do you find each other? And how do you comply with all the rules of FIFA and the laws of Russia while transfer or resale?
A Telegram channel was created exactly for these purposes, it has almost 900 followers at the moment. People come and go if they get what they want. Or didn't get and already do not hope.
Judging by the messages in Telegram, the majority wants to get tickets for the matches in Moscow. And preferably the cheapest, the fourth category. Well, at least, the third. Such wishes are already starting to annoy the participants and organizers. There are calls to be more reasonable and realize that those who want to exchange or sell Moscow games are very few. For the convenience of users, community members use hashtags #buy, #sell, #exchange etc. And many times there were calls to ban users writing #buy and #moscow.
The most popular the matches were Argentina-Iceland, Germany-Mexico and Brazil-Serbia (all of them take place in Moscow). Meanwhile, the matches with the participation of the Russian team caused much less excitement. Users even joked after a poor game against Austria: now the price tag for matches of the Russian national team will drop.
It’s difficult to say how many people managed to agree on an exchange or sale, because all transactions took place in private messages. They also agreed on the transfer of the right for free travel on a special train (if the ticket holder has one) and decide on the way they will exchange tickets: tickets for tickets or tickets for money.
If someone tries to sell at least 10 percent above the face value, they will be banned immediately: We are not selling for profit here! Since the illegal sale of tickets is a violation of the administrative code, one may get a fine of at least 50 thousand rubles.
However, this article of the Administrative Code introduced for the World Cup 2018 reads that "sale, resale, distribution, distribution, exchange or other use, whether or not connected with the extraction of profits" is called "illegal sale of tickets." In addition, the fans are afraid that they may face a problem at the entrance because of the discrepancy between the name on the ticket and the name in the FAN ID. Even the experienced fans can neither reassure them nor warn them just yet. They say that there were no such problems at the Confederations Cup and there are unlikely to be now, because it would be unrealistic for the volunteers to check all the viewers for the names. But the exact answer can be obtained only after the first matches are held.
«If it is a special operation, then everything is possible».
Legal support for the guys who organized similar platforms for ticket exchange is provided by the Fans Support Center. We asked the head of this center, Mr. Oleg Semenov, for a comment on the matter:
- I was asked by a group of fans of Spartak who created the Telegram channel for exchange of tickets for the matches of the World Cup 2018. They asked for advise on legal issues due to the fact that the article on illegal ticket sales in the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation was made specifically for the World Cup. Also, many people have questions regarding the FAN ID, whether they will be allowed to the stadium, if the name on the ticket does not match the name in FAN ID. Speculators immediately get banned, because the objective of this community is different. And even if people who wrote for everyone that they sell at face value, then they wind up the price on personal messages, Channel administrators also put on the blacklist people who writes that they sell tickets at face value and then they wind up the price in personal messages.
- Oleg, in the very article of the administrative code it is written that it is illegal to even exchange tickets without extracting profits...
- Yes, but it's hard to prove. Only if I gave you a ticket, and you wrote a statement to the police. This is hardly possible.
- And if I'm a police officer trying to buy a ticket from you under cover?
- If there is a special operation, then everything is possible. But in my opinion no one will spend such resources on ordinary fans who simply help each other to get to the World Cup without any personal gain.
- What about the correspondence of names in the ticket and FAN IDs?
- Firstly, if people sell guest tickets, they can re-register them in another name in their personal account. Secondly, who will check the names at the entrance? And a big question is whether they will have such authority. Thirdly, there are sponsorship tickets, on which no name is written at all. What should be checked? So, I think, this will not be a problem.
«I will pay you in advance».
The same groups exist in other social networks. But if, for example, the VKontakte audience is Russian, in Facebook there are a lot of foreigners who are doing the same: exchange or sale. "Our agents" try to penetrate there as well. Some try their luck in search of the coveted matches, for example, Argentina-Iceland, in the hope that foreigners do not want to watch it so much. Then there are those who are trying to sell the fourth category tickets to foreigners (which costs 1,280 rubles only for citizens of the Russian Federation, which at the current rate is approximately 17 euros) – «I have fourth category tickets: two for Denmark - Australia (each for 75 euros), three for Poland - Colombia (each for 125 euros), four for England - Belgium (each for 150 euros). If you are interested and want to meet, I live in Amsterdam and will also be in London from 8 to 10 June» - writes enterprising compatriot Roman Maltsev-Jones.
Foreigners are very specific guys. Not just "I want tickets to St. Petersburg", but "I need 1 ticket for Egypt - Russia, category 1, sector A111" - the voice of the inhabitant of Oklahoma City named Ahmed El-Dib, clearly an Egyptian.
By the way, many were surprised that the second place after Russia in the list of countries whose residents bought tickets are occupied by Americans, whose team did not even get to this World Cup. Some of them are really just well-to-do American football fans, who wants to enjoy visiting an interesting country, especially during such a colossal event. But most of them are Egyptians from Oklahoma City. Or Mexicans from Texas. Or Panamanians from Los Angeles.
Also, foreigners are very naive. For example, a resident of Hong Kong, Rosh Pritmani, who has already written several times that he is eager to buy three tickets for the semifinal match in St. Petersburg writes - "I will pay you in advance, before you give me a ticket."
New batches of tickes, bots and insomnia.
If you do not want to get involved into risky exchange deals but you have the excitement and the opportunity to not sleep at night, then you can still catch your lucky ticket on the official website of FIFA.
«New batch! Let's get to your account! "- sometimes such cries are heard in the apartment of a correspondent of MK at about 1 in the morning. In the family of a sports journalist everyone loves football and also wants to get to the World Cup matches. Some tickets were bought during the first stages of sales, but there are even more interesting matches ahead, which already the next day after the start of the third stage (will last until the very end) glowed inaccessible gray. All of them, even the most expensive categories.
But then it turned out that sometimes at night there are "ticket infusions" on the FIFA website. Fans sometimes return previously purchased tickets at the ticket centers or discard them in their accounts and then tickets are sent back to the site.
Experts write programs and create bots, which instantly notify about the next tranches. Some of them are free. For example, in Telegram there are several channels in which they post information about new tickets and even ticket category at night.
It does not happen every night. And there is no regularity. They can throw tickets two or three nights in a row and then there may be a break in one, two or several nights. But even if you catch the moment, while you turn on the computer, go into your account, and then wait for your turn, all the delicious will be sold out. Sometimes this "delicious" returns to the site after a while. One put in the basket every available ticket (but not all of them will end in your basket, because just a fraction of a second before a man thousands of kilometers away from you has already pointed his cursor at the ticket and clicked) and then refuses those tickets that are less attractive for him or to where the trip is too expensive (meanwhile monitoring the prices of air and railway tickets) or just for which his credit card lacks funds. And just like that you can get to the affordable tickets of the third or second category for the wonderful matches Argentina - Croatia in Nizhny Novgorod or Germany - Mexico in Moscow at three o’clock in the morning.
The longest stay available tickets for the matches in Saransk and Volgograd. Sometimes even a cheap fourth category tickets. It happens probably because there are no tickets left for free trains to these cities and it's quite expensive to go there by air. Surprisingly, the opening match between Russia and Saudi Arabia was not so popular either. At least the first and second categories tickets could lie unwanted all night long till the morning.
Then there are free bots where the bot author drops a link from time to time where you can "support" it with a minimum amount of 200 rubles. Or you can "support" directly using the credit card. He even conducted a survey among members of the community, whether they consider him a huckster if he asks for money for his work. 95% said they do not. Then in the Telegram channel there was a message that only 20 people out of 350 have paid and if it continues like this the notifications of the new batches will either be delayed or be sent only to those who have paid. Apparently, in the coming days it will already be a paid channel.