UPDATE: A settlement has been reached in this case.
Original story below…
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BALTIMORE, MD—Maryland Attorney General Brian E. Frosh announced on Thursday that the Consumer Protection Division has filed charges against Event Ticket Sales, LLC and Guinio Volpone for violations of the Maryland Consumer Protection Act and Maryland’s Interference With Internet Ticket Sales law.
Event Ticket Sales and Volpone resell entertainment event tickets through several different websites. The Consumer Protection Division alleges that the company and Volpone are using lower-level domain names, names that appear in the ticket seller’s internet address that include Maryland venues without the venues authorization and falsely imply that they are sponsored or approved by the relevant event or venue, when they are not. This practice violates Maryland’s Interference With Internet Ticket Sales law, which seeks to protect consumers searching for tickets on the Internet from being misled into believing that they are buying tickets from the venue at face value, rather than from a ticket reseller, like Event Ticket Sales, which charges a sizeable premium.
“It is a violation of our consumer protection laws to suggest, falsely, that a ticket seller is affiliated with a Maryland venue. It is even worse when a ticket reseller jacks up the ticket price to boot,” said Attorney General Frosh. “Even if a company is based in another state, our laws are in place to protect Maryland consumers from deception like this.”
The Division is seeking restitution, an injunction preventing Respondents from further violating Maryland law, as well as civil penalties and costs.
A hearing on the Divisions charges is scheduled for December 19, 2019, at the Office of Administrative Hearings in Hunt Valley, Maryland. For more information, consumers may call the Consumer Protection hotline at 410-528-8662 or toll free at 1-888-743-0023.
