Inauguration ticket offers are 'scam history'

For auction on eBay: a pair of tickets to the Barack Obama inauguration!

Yes you can, for $5,000 (Dh18,350) apiece, be part of history.

Unfortunately, government officials say, it may be scam history. Swearing-in ceremony tickets, which are supposed to be free, haven't been issued, and there's evidence that fraudsters may be trying to sell fakes.

"It's buyer beware," said Howard Gantman, staff director for the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies.

The only sure way to get tickets for most of the general public is to get them through members of Congress, who'll be issued the bulk of the approximately 240,000 tickets for the January 20 ceremony on the west side of the Capitol building.

The eBay auction, posted by a site user called Honjarlan, are for tickets "from a source in Congress that will not be able to attend."

Honjarlan didn't reply to e-mailed requests for an interview, which was no surprise. Included in the description of the tickets was, "Do not ask where they are coming from because I will not answer that."

It goes on to say that the tickets must be paid for immediately at the end of the auction and then would be sent to the lucky winner "the day I recieve (sic) them."

Gantman wasn't impressed. "How would anyone know that person really has access to tickets?" he asked. The tickets won't go to members of Congress until a few days before the event.

But he conceded the transaction could be valid.

"There are some people who doubtless will get tickets without saying they are planning to resell them."

In Missouri, the attorney general's office got so many complaints from people offered tickets for sale, either directly or through Web sites, that it issued a warning "to be on the lookout for scam artists."

The StubHub site for ticket buyers and sellers said it was working to ensure that inaugural offerings on its platform were legitimate. As of Wednesday, 13 tickets were for sale on the eBay-owned site at a low price of $1,950 apiece to a high of $7,500 apiece.

Sean Pate, a spokesman for StubHub, said only a select group of sellers was being allowed to offer the tickets. "They have to be very reputable sellers," Pate said.