Arrests following suspected fraud on the Louvre artwork museum in Paris | EUROtoday

As of: February 12, 2026 9:43 p.m

The theft of jewels from the Louvre in Paris was just a few months in the past. Now the artwork museum is as soon as once more within the public eye: the police are investigating a suspected million-dollar ticket fraud.

A fraud ring within the Louvre artwork museum in Paris is alleged to have enriched itself with a complicated rip-off for over ten years. Nine individuals have now been arrested in a large-scale police operation and greater than 1.4 million euros have been confiscated. Those arrested embody vacationer guides, two Louvre workers and an individual suspected of organizing the community, prosecutors stated.

The arrests came about on Tuesday. The suspects are scheduled to be introduced earlier than the Justice of the Peace on Friday. The museum itself raised the alarm with the police on the finish of 2024 as a result of it had found irregularities.

Inflated costs and faux tickets

According to the general public prosecutor’s workplace, the fraudsters are stated to have organized group excursions that exceeded the utmost permitted variety of contributors. They charged extreme costs for the extra contributors – exterior of official ticket gross sales and for their very own revenue. They are additionally stated to have used tickets a number of instances and bought false tickets. Museum workers obtained cash for not checking the teams.

In order to catch the suspected fraudsters, the investigators used surveillance measures and wiretapping. During the raids, greater than 957,000 euros in money and 486,000 euros have been confiscated from varied financial institution accounts.

More than ten million euros in injury

However, the fraudsters had already spent many of the loot and invested in actual property in France and Dubai, amongst different issues, in keeping with the general public prosecutor’s workplace. The Louvre estimates the injury prompted at greater than ten million euros. A spokeswoman for the museum stated it had initiated a plan to fight fraud. It contains stricter controls and technical measures.

In October there was a spectacular break-in on the Louvre through which eight crown jewels price 88 million euros have been stolen. In November a gallery needed to be closed because of technical injury.