Two men and a woman are said to have set up the websites and collected money for non-existent tickets.

They told their victims their credit cards were declined and asked them to pay for tickets by cheque. The tickets never arrived.

Police working on “Operation Podium,” an investigation into ticketing fraud leading up to the 2012 Olympics, believe hundreds were caught by the scam.

They arrested the suspects at two addresses in Surrey and Bromley Nov. 4.

Southwark Trading Standards closed down the worldwideticketstore website after visiting its London premises. The livelinetickets.com site was also shut down.

Acting Detective Inspector Claire Pluckrose told London Evening Standard she believed the police disrupted a significant criminal network that was “profiting from taking hard-earned cash from innocent members of the public.”

“Ticket crime harms the customer buying the tickets, organisers of legitimate events and the economy as a whole. There have been many people disappointed at not being able to see some of their favourite acts live on stage,” she said.

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