Posted on: Wednesday, October 24, 2001

Bogus Cypress Hill tickets cost organizers $12,000

By Catherine E. Toth
Advertiser Staff Writer

About 400 counterfeit tickets were sold for Sunday's "The Cypress Hill Smoke Out" concert, resulting in an estimated $12,000 loss for local event promoter Goldenvoice.

People bought the counterfeit tickets from sellers in the parking lot of Kualoa Ranch, where the outdoor punk-rock concert was held. The tickets, which were reportedly sold for $20 to $30, appeared identical to those issued by Goldenvoice, down to the color and typeface.

Goldenvoice sold about 400 tickets at the door for $30; normally they sell about a thousand tickets.

Concert promoters found out about the illegal ticket sales at about 4:30 p.m., more than six hours after the gates opened.

Goldenvoice sold about 3,700 tickets to the concert.

Without any suspects or leads, Goldenvoice only filed a report with police and is urging people who bought counterfeit tickets to come forward with any information.

"We just want to find out who was doing it," said Karen Last, manager of the Hawai'i office. "No one's going to get into trouble for buying the tickets."

Last said Goldenvoice has never lost so much money because of counterfeiters. Once, someone printed fake tickets to a reggae show, "but nothing like this," she said.

Anyone with information regarding the counterfeit tickets and/or sellers should call Goldenvoice at 947-3633.