
Several managers of eateries in Tokyo's downtown area were talked into buying tickets for Yomiuri Giants baseball games -- official fan club tickets not normally available to the general public -- at prices well above face value from a prospective customer in exchange for the customer making a restaurant reservation for a big group, which never materialized, The Yomiuri Shimbun has learned. According to police and the Yomiuri Giants, at least 10 such cases have been reported since late August, with the known overcharging totaling 269,000 yen. The police are investigating the cases on suspicion of fraud and say the same perpetrator may be involved in all of them. The tickets in question are invitation tickets that can be exchanged for infield reserved seats, worth only 1,800 yen each.
The Yomiuri fails to mention that this fraud is all the more egregious because tickets to Giants games are no longer in such short supply.