NZ Rugby (NZR) has cancelled hundreds of match tickets to next weekend's clash between the All Blacks and Springboks in Wellington, due to fraud.
Ticketek has advised NZR to cancel more than 700 tickets to the Rugby Championship test, citing "fraudulent sales", as they were bought through secondary markets.
NZR said it was taking a hard stand against fraud and has reminded fans to only purchase tickets from legitimate ticket retailers to avoid any dramas.
"Unfortunately, it is highly likely that some of these tickets will have already been on-sold to unknowing fans on the secondary market and those fans may only discover their tickets are invalid when they present them at the gate at Westpac Stadium," said NZR chief commercial officer Richard Thomas.
"Our message to fans is that if you choose to buy All Blacks tickets on the secondary market through online resellers like Viagogo, you run a huge risk of not entering the venue or having to pay inflated prices for tickets."
On Thursday, Viagogo was suspended from appearing in Google's paid-for search results, after being found to be in breach of the search engine's advertising policy.
With the All Blacks game close to being a sell-out, those tickets cancelled will now be made available to the general public.
Last year at the same venue, South Africa claimed a stunning 36-34 win over the All Blacks - their first win against the All Blacks in New Zealand since 2009.
The match will also serve as a dress rehearsal, before the two teams square off in their opening Rugby World Cup pool games in September.
Newshub.
