A "significant number of students" were caught with counterfeit tickets at the two concerts sponsored by the Brown Concert Agency this past weekend, said Elliot Colbert '09, who was in charge of ticketing for BCA. The agency could not give an exact number of tickets confiscated, but it was "at least 100 over the two days," BCA Booking Chair David Horn '08 said.
It was "definitely a bigger problem" this year than in the past, Horn said.
Tickets for the two concerts, Friday's headlined by Lupe Fiasco and Saturday's by M.I.A, sold out exceptionally quickly this year. BCA was "completely taken aback by the pace of sales," Colbert said. Within the first two days of sales, all rain-capacity tickets for both events had been sold, leaving many students without a legitimate way to attend the annual spring event.
But the problem wasn't just that the tickets sold out, Colbert said - BCA expects to sell out every year because no campus venue can accommodate the entire student population. Because of quick sales, would-be counterfeiters had an entire month to "take it on as a project." The extra time allowed them to perfect their fakes before the show, he said. Alex Spoto '11, BCA's security chair, said that though the "somewhat sophisticated" counterfeiting was "not something that you could do with a cheap printer," it could still be done simply with a scanner, the appropriate paper and a high-quality printer.
BCA expected an increase in counterfeiting as result of high demand for tickets, Horn said, and the group worked with the Department of Public Safety and Green Horn Management, which was contracted to handle security for the events, to catch counterfeits.
Director of Student Activities Ricky Gresh and other staff from the Student Activities Office oversaw the ticket collection and inspection, Spoto said. "Everyone had their eyes out" for fake tickets, he added.
An hour before each concert, GHM employees were trained with real tickets to inspect details of the tickets like paper weight and the perforation lines, Spoto said.
Spoto said he saw a "steady stream" of counterfeit tickets being discovered, suggesting that the ticket-detection training paid off.
Nonetheless, he and other BCA members conceded that several fake ticket holders made it past the heightened security, though they would not speculate as to how many.
The fake tickets "looked good" at first, Spoto said, but could usually be spotted quickly on closer inspection. Spoto said most counterfeits could be identified by the lightness of the ink color and cut of the paper.
Those caught trying to use fake tickets had their counterfeits confiscated and were turned away at the door. Some were asked where they had purchased the tickets, in an effort to catch those selling fakes. DPS officers were stationed outside Meehan Auditorium, where the concerts took place, to try to dissuade the practice, Spoto said.
One BCA member, who preferred to remain anonymous, said a group of BCA members went outside the venue to try to buy fake tickets in an impromptu sting operation to catch counterfeiters, but did not find anyone at that time. Horn said that he didn't know of such an operation, but that it may have taken place.
BCA has no plans to investigate ticket counterfeiting, but DPS and the Providence Police Department may do so, Colbert said.
Colbert said next year there will be "many differences" to the "ticket distribution system," but these are primarily designed to affect the pace of sales rather than to prevent counterfeiting.
Representatives from DPS and the Student Activities Office did not return phone calls requesting comment on Sunday.
