Washington, DC – Following recent reports of online ticket brokers in Rhode Island posing as the official sales sites for popular venues and overcharging consumers, U.S. Senators Sheldon Whitehouse and Jack Reed have asked the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to investigate the practice.  

The senators are seeking to protect consumers from unscrupulous ticket brokers who may be posing as trusted Rhode Island venues and driving up ticket prices while narrowing the choice of tickets available to the public at face value.

In one instance reported last month by the Providence Journal, a ticket broker using the domain name “providencepac.org” was using copyrighted images of the Providence Performing Arts Center (PPAC – real domain name: ppacri.org) and charging $655 – almost ten times the $70 face value – for a ticket to see “Les Miserables” at PPAC.

“When consumers mistakenly believe they are purchasing tickets from a trusted source, there is serious potential for fraud.  We want the FTC to investigate these practices and take appropriate actions to protect consumers,” said Whitehouse and Reed in a joint statement.