French police have arrested nine individuals suspected of involvement in a ticket fraud scheme at the Louvre Museum valued at approximately 10 million euros.
Among those detained are two museum employees and several tour guides, in addition to a person suspected of being the mastermind behind the network. A museum spokesperson confirmed that initial investigations point to an organized network carrying out large-scale fraud, noting that the museum alerted authorities immediately upon discovering the issue.
The Paris public prosecutor’s office also confirmed that the detainees are involved in the repeated reuse of tickets and exploiting loopholes to avoid paying the legally required fees for tour guides.
Investigation details indicate that the network primarily targeted groups of Chinese visitors, where guides reused the same tickets multiple times for different individuals, contributing to the entry of up to 20 tour groups daily over the past decade.
Accomplices from within the museum
It was also revealed that some accomplices were from inside the museum, receiving payments in exchange for overlooking ticket verification procedures.
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This fraud comes at a time when the Louvre is facing repeated crises; last October it experienced one of the most violent thefts in its history, when thieves broke into the museum during the day and stole French crown jewels worth 88 million euros in just seven minutes, before fleeing on motorcycles. While some perpetrators have been detained and formally investigated, the jewels have not yet been recovered.
