Scalping Leads to Big Trouble for Two World Cup Ticket Agents

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — The official World Cup hospitality provider says it has canceled or blocked tickets bought by four companies after some of their allocations were allegedly illegally re-sold on the black market.

MATCH, which has the exclusive rights to the World Cup hospitality program, says all remaining tickets bought by Algerian Mohamadou Lamine Fofana's Atlanta Sportif Management company have been canceled. Fofana was among 11 people arrested by Rio De Janeiro police last week on suspicion of illegally re-selling World Cup tickets at prices well above face value.

MATCH also said Monday that two of its official agents and one other customer company had ticket allocations blocked pending further investigations.

Brazilian police seized 131 tickets — including 70 for corporate packages — in an investigation into a ticket scalping ring.