The Metropolitan Police's central e-crime unit are warning English football fans to avoid ticket and travel scams saying that all tickets for the Fifa World Cup finals in South Africa will be personalised and that tickets can only be obtained from www.fifa.com saying "tickets will only be issued in South Africa .... Given that tickets can only be collected in South Africa it appears any site offering tickets will have criminal intent". Both Ebay and GumTree have been taking offers of sales and suspending sellers' accounts with eBay UK saying "eBay UK strictly prohibits the resale of tickets for the Fifa World Cup.

We do not allow anyone to list or purchase such tickets on eBay.co.uk and we prevent users from bidding for or buying tickets from sellers outside of the UK". More tickets will be made available on April 15th and Fifa say that travel packages are still available through Fifa endorsed tour operators.

01/03/10