CAMBRIDGE, Mass., June 24 -- Police in the Boston area Friday broke up a scalping operation that was allegedly selling hundreds of stolen World Cup tickets for up to $200 apiece.
Police said they were tipped off to the ring by a small suspicious newspaper ad.
The 1,500 tickets had been issued to the Nigerian government and were to be distributed for Saturday's game between Nigeria and Argentina at Foxboro Stadium in Foxboro, Mass., police said.
Officers arrested Pamela Foster of Mt. Vernon, N.Y., at a motel in Harvard Square in Cambridge, Mass., where the tickets were confiscated along with dozens of World Cup hats and T-shirts.
Police said Foster had allegedly been hired by an unidentified man in the New York area, who ran the operation.
Investigators said the suspect 1-by-2 inch ad, appearing in Friday's Boston Globe, also offered tickets to games between Nigeria and Greece at Foxboro, and between Ireland and Norway at the Meadowlands in East Rutherford, N.J.
No prices were listed, but the ad gave an '800' to call for more information.
Most of the tickets were selling for $50 to $75 above legal ticket prices, but police said some were going for as high as $200 apiece.
The matches have drawn thousands of foreign visitors to the Boston area and other cities where the World Cup is being played across the U. S.
