Pair Plead Guilty to Forging San Diego Comic Con Tickets
A money-making scam ended up costing two men more than they bargained for.
Two Los Angeles men have pleaded guilty to the misdemeanour charge of selling fake tickets to this year's San Diego Comic Con. Farhad Lame and Navid Vatankhahan, who were arrested back in July, had sold the counterfeit tickets via an ad on Craigslist.
Prosecutors accused the pair of selling phony tickets - which were actually photocopies of an exhibitor's ticket - to two women for $120 apiece. The women discovered that their tickets were fakes when convention officials denied them entry. The pair has been ordered to pay $750 each in fines, as well as restitution to the victims. The pair must also complete ten days of community service - in this case, picking up trash by the roadside - and complete three years probation. Finally, the court ordered Vatankhahan, who posted the original ad, not to resell any tickets until his probation was over.
Deputy city attorney Kristine Lorenz said that while it wasn't illegal to resell tickets, buyers bought them at their own risk, adding that if a deal looked too good to be true, it probably was.
Source: Signs On San Diego [http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/dec/27/two-men-plead-guilty-selling-phony-comic-con-ticke/] and San Diego.com [http://www.sandiego.com/things-to-do/comic-con-tickets-buyer-beware] via Bleeding Cool [http://www.bleedingcool.com/2010/12/28/two-plead-guilty-to-forging-san-diego-comic-con-tickets/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+BleedingCool+(Bleeding+Cool+Comic+News+%26+Rumors)]
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Two Los Angeles men have pleaded guilty to the misdemeanour charge of selling fake tickets to this year's San Diego Comic Con. Farhad Lame and Navid Vatankhahan, who were arrested back in July, had sold the counterfeit tickets via an ad on Craigslist.
Prosecutors accused the pair of selling phony tickets - which were actually photocopies of an exhibitor's ticket - to two women for $120 apiece. The women discovered that their tickets were fakes when convention officials denied them entry. The pair has been ordered to pay $750 each in fines, as well as restitution to the victims. The pair must also complete ten days of community service - in this case, picking up trash by the roadside - and complete three years probation. Finally, the court ordered Vatankhahan, who posted the original ad, not to resell any tickets until his probation was over.
Deputy city attorney Kristine Lorenz said that while it wasn't illegal to resell tickets, buyers bought them at their own risk, adding that if a deal looked too good to be true, it probably was.
Source: Signs On San Diego [http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/dec/27/two-men-plead-guilty-selling-phony-comic-con-ticke/] and San Diego.com [http://www.sandiego.com/things-to-do/comic-con-tickets-buyer-beware] via Bleeding Cool [http://www.bleedingcool.com/2010/12/28/two-plead-guilty-to-forging-san-diego-comic-con-tickets/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+BleedingCool+(Bleeding+Cool+Comic+News+%26+Rumors)]
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