nancies.org statement about fraudulent activity

Because of the huge demand for tickets to Dave Matthews & Tim Reynolds concerts in the spring of 2003, there has been a spike in the amount of fraudulent activity occurring on the nancies.org message boards. In addition, the increasing number of memberships to the Warehouse Fan Association and highly-criticized changes to their ticketing policies have also caused ticket demand to rise. To combat ticket brokers, scalpers, and the rise of fraud, we have created a method to allow users to contact us about suspected fraudulent activity.

The following is a statement from legal entities representing nancies.org in this matter:

Recently, nancies.org has learned that person(s) masquerading as Dave Matthews Band fans have been using this message board to defraud legitimate nancies community members. These person(s) have created multiple nancies identities, to post offers for tickets or recorded music to be sold and/or traded. Despite being advised of the illegality of their presence on these boards, and despite every effort by the Administrators of this site, sometimes, we are unable to prevent legitimate community members from being defrauded. The administrators of this site have taken a number of steps to prevent this activity from occurring. In recent weeks, the administrators have contacted law enforcement and have compiled significant data, which has been forwarded to various law enforcement representatives who are now completing their investigation into the alleged crimes.

nancies.org is a fan community which has international reach. The use of this website, its message boards or any information contained in the website, including but not limited to email addresses, screennames, and biographical information for the commission of a crime is not tolerated by the administrators. The use of such information derived from the use of our web server for illegitimate purposes will constitute a larceny of proprietary information. The use of the website by unauthorized persons will constitute theft of bandwidth. Both will be referred to the proper local and national authorities for prosecution.

Finally, threats or entreaties for the commission physical violence against anyone on these boards will not be tolerated. Please refrain from posting such. Despite being overwhelmingly frustrating, physical violence against anyone over concert tickets is also criminal. We will not hesitate to provide information to law enforcement if such conduct is revealed on our site. The only alternative to a reformation of conduct by the community is to terminate the site.