Police Raid Vicente López Home Over Scalping Ring For Argentina’s Benín Match
Argentine authorities seized nearly 10 million pesos and over $56,000 in cash during a raid in Vicente López targeting an alleged ticket scalping ring exploiting Lionel Messi’s farewell match, Clarín reported. The operation, executed by the City Police of Buenos Aires, followed a week-long investigation into exorbitant markups on tickets for the Argentina versus Benín fixture.
The Investigation Begins Online After Deportick Sells Out
The official ticketing platform, Deportick, had sold out its entire allotment in under two hours, creating a massive secondary market. Official face values on the Argentine Football Association (AFA) website ranged from 90,000 pesos for standard general admission up to 480,000 pesos for premier Belgrano and San Martín grandstand seats.
Cash and Counterfeit Detectors Seized in Vicente López
Inside the targeted residence, police detained a female suspect and confiscated 9,850,000 pesos alongside 56,300 U.S. dollars in cash, Noticias Argentinas reported. Investigators also recovered a money-counting machine, a notebook, a smartphone, a laptop, and nine physical match tickets. According to Infobae’s review of the property, those recovered physical passes included seven entries for the Belgrano Baja sector and two for the Sívori Alta stand.
Secondary Market Prices Soar Past Official Figures
As official inventory vanished, illegal resellers listed standard 90,000-peso popular tickets for upwards of 823,668 pesos, while prime San Martín Baja seats originally priced at 450,000 pesos appeared online for more than 2.4 million pesos, Infobae noted. Clarín documented separate secondary listings reaching as high as 1 million pesos for lower grandstand seats. Meanwhile, sports tourism firm Modo Vuela advertised packages starting at 790,000 pesos and climbing to 1.6 million pesos for a VIP experience, though a spokesperson for Claudio “Chiqui” Tapia denied any official association with the agency.
Prosecutor Maximiliano Vence Oversees the Legal Case
Prosecutor Maximiliano Vence, heading the Penal, Contravencional and Faltas Prosecutor’s Office No. 8, oversees the ongoing judicial proceedings. In September 2025, the same prosecution unit targeted a social media vendor known as “The Armenian Girl,” arresting a suspect and seizing over 5 million pesos and 3,455 dollars during an operation in Villa Santa Rita ahead of an Argentina-Venezuela match for the Eliminatorias.
Worth a look
