How scammers stole $12 million from the Louvre museum

PARIS — When officials at the Louvre in Paris suspected that some tour guides were reusing tickets in late 2024, they didn’t expect to discover that a wide-ranging network of scams had cost the museum nearly $12 million over a decade.

But investigators say evidence uncovered over the past year points to just that, including bribes to museum staff, tickets reused multiple times and groups of tourists being split up to avoid paying extra fees.

Last week, police arrested nine people in the case, including two museum employees, according to the Paris prosecutor’s office. The investigation suggested that over the past 10 years, the scam network received up to 20 groups per day. Investigators believe ticket fraud also occurred at the Palace of Versailles, the office added.

Some of the money was invested in real estate in France and Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, said investigators, who seized more than US$1 million in cash and more than US$500,000 in bank accounts, according to the prosecutor.

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The identities of the nine prisoners were not released. The suspects were accused of crimes such as fraud committed by an organized gang, use of forged documents, corruption and aggravated money laundering. One suspect is in pre-trial detention on multiple charges, and the other eight were released under strict conditions.

The Louvre said in an email that it is facing “an increase and diversification of ticket fraud” and that its management is working with police to better identify and prevent these crimes.

In an interview with a French TV channel on Friday, Kim Pham, general administrator of the Louvre, acknowledged “difficulties in verifying tickets purchased online when visitors pass by and enter the museum.”

According to the prosecutor’s office, the investigation into the suspected ticket scam was opened after the Louvre filed a complaint in December 2024, in which it stated that some Chinese tour guides were suspected of reusing tickets multiple times for different people. After discovering evidence supporting these allegations, investigators began to suspect that the guides may have been bribing museum officials to carry out the scam.

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