A GROUP of cyber detectives are set to become the first to enforce fines on industrial scale touts for re-selling tickets online at hugely inflated prices.

As it emerged World Cup tickets for the England vs Tunisia match are being marketed on secondary ticketing sites for up to £11,300, a team of investigators at County Hall, in Northallerton, are preparing to tackle those who flout the law surrounding secondary ticketing.

Concerns have mounted over online resale of tickets to sporting, recreational and cultural events and the information consumers receive during such sales.

A spokesman for campaign group FanFair Alliance, which was initially funded by the management of bands including One Direction, Mumford and Sons and Little Mix, said: “We have been calling for enforcement since the campaign started. It is not particularly hard to see breaches of ticketing law on platforms.”

To address these concerns, the Consumer Rights Act 2015 made it illegal for operators of secondary ticketing websites to sell tickets without providing details about the original face value of the ticket, the seat the ticket is for and restrictions on the use of the ticket. While watchdog the Advertising Standards Authority has begun clamping down on secondary ticketing websites by banning their “misleading” pricing information, enforcement action has yet to be taken against the platforms for individual breaches of the legislation.

Consumer rights group Which? and campaign groups have stated the secondary ticketing online platforms are routinely failing to comply with the act.

North Yorkshire County Council, together with City of York Trading Standards, host the National Trading Standards eCrime team (NTSeCT) on behalf of National Trading Standards, and the former authority is being provided with funding to tackle breaches of the legislation. A council spokesman said before enforcement action could be launched the authority’s approval was needed, adding: “Preparatory work has been undertaken and advice taken from counsel as to the interpretation of parts of the Act.”

When the County Hall team is satisfied on the balance of probabilities that secondary ticketing provider has not provided the correct information, North Yorkshire County Council will impose fines of “a standard amount of £5,000 per breach”.

A report to the council’s executive states: “In deciding the amount of financial penalty to impose, the amount of the penalty must be sufficient to ensure that it will act as an effective incentive to compliance.”

Funding for the enforcement work has been provided to the council by National Trading Standards.