Dmitry Kostyukov for The New York Times
A decade-long ticket fraud scheme targeting Chinese tour groups has led to the arrest of two Louvre employees and several tour guides, in what French prosecutors describe as a “large-scale” operation that siphoned millions of dollars from the world’s most visited museum.
The investigation into the suspected ticket scam was opened after the Louvre filed a complaint in December 2024 in which it said that a couple of Chinese tour guides were suspected of reusing tickets several times for different people. This also included tickets reused multiple times, and groups of tourists being split up to avoid paying the extra reservation fees—€20 ($23) for groups of up to six and €90 ($106) for groups of seven to 20—which cover a guide’s right to conduct tours inside the museum. After uncovering evidence that supported those claims, investigators then suspected that guides could be bribing museum employees in order to carry out the scam. These tour guides allegedly received help from a network of accomplices working at the Louvre in a type of “pay for play” scheme where they were paid by the guides to get their groups past the ticket checks at the museum.
Last week, the police arrested nine people in the case, including two museum employees, according to the Paris prosecutor’s office. Its investigation suggested that for the past 10 years, a scamming network had been bringing in up to 20 groups per day. Officials believe that this scheme cost the museum nearly $12 million over a decade. Part of the money was invested in real estate in France and Dubai, said the investigators, who have seized more than $1 million in cash and more than $500,000 from bank accounts, according to the prosecutor’s office.
Sadly, it seems that the Louvre isn’t the only cultural institution affected by this. Investigators think the ticket fraud also took place at the Versailles Palace.
Louvre tickets for non EU visitors is currently €32.00 (roughly 40 U.S. dollars) per person. I admit, I’m of mixed feelings about this. I’ve been to various museums with exorbitant ticket prices, and have often had generous staff do me a solid by either ringing the ticket up at a student rate to save $$/giving me free admission, so while I can’t find it in my heart to be too shady about this I can be appalled it was monetized like this, and now the whole system is screwed for everyone. 😂
Sources:
Artnet
New York Times
