A 35-year-old woman from Nelson and her 49-year-old partner are facing multiple charges, accused of selling bogus Shambhala Music Festival tickets.
The Nelson Police Department received a complaint Thursday from someone who paid $300 for what they thought were tickets, but when they got to the festival, they were informed they weren’t valid.
An investigation uncovered two further incidents of apparent fraud and resulted in the arrests. The pair have since been released on a promise to appear in court.
Police are still investigating. Anyone with information is asked to call them at 250-354-3919.
Falcone said while he has heard of other counterfeit tickets before, it’s the first time arrests have been made.
Festival organizers didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Meanwhile, RCMP Insp. Tom Roy reported no major incidents from the festival this weekend, calling it “relatively a non-event.”
“It’s been really good,” he said, noting that officers were still on site Tuesday. “Lots of drugs and liquor were seized going in and coming out, but I can’t think of one criminal offence.”
Roy also said while there were a few drug overdoses, they were dealt with at the medical tent. He wasn’t aware that anybody had been sent to hospital.