QC cops round up scalpers selling PBA Finals tickets in Cubao

MANILA, Philippines – Authorities arrested three alleged scalpers selling tickets to the anticipated Game 6 of the Philippine Basketball Association Finals between Barangay Ginebra and Bay Area following an operation at the Gateway Mall in Quezon City, police said Wednesday.

A report from the Quezon City Police District (QCPD) said the suspects, identified as Kenneth Peji, 21; John Limuel dela Cruz, 20; and a 17-year-old male, were nabbed late Tuesday afternoon after selling 13 tickets for P13,000 to an undercover police officer.

The suspects sold the tickets, not knowing that the buyer from the Quezon City District Anti-Cybercrime Team (QCD-ACT) was conducting an entrapment operation.

The QCPD said joint elements from the District Special Operations Unit, Quezon City Hall Detachment, and QCD-ACT started cyber patrolling after the PBA management sought police assistance to clamp down on rampant online scalping of tickets.

Seized from the suspects were 50 tickets for the Ginebra-Bay Area showdown.

The suspects have been charged with violations of the Quezon City Anti-Scalping Ordinance with a fine of P5,000.

Scalping is illegal under Quezon City Ordinance No. SP-493, S-97, which calls it a practice “tantamount to a fraudulent means of making money, which should be suppressed and made illegal.”

With this, QCPD Director Brig. Gen. Nicolas Torre III warned the public “to refrain from patronizing scalpers [and] instead, report them [to authorities] so that they will be arrested and charged accordingly.”

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JPV