Louvre Official Says Fraud ‘inevitable’ At Large Museums As France Probes Multimillion Euro Scheme

PARIS — For nan Louvre, nan world’s astir visited museum, it is “statistically inevitable” that fraud would travel up astatine immoderate point, nan museum’s No. 2 said successful nan aftermath of a decade-long, $11.8 cardinal suspected ticket-fraud strategy revealed past week.

Kim Pham, nan Louvre’s wide administrator, told nan Associated Press that nan museum’s unsocial standard makes it peculiarly vulnerable. However, pressed to sanction different institutions pinch akin problems, he declined to azygous retired peers.

“Which depository successful nan world, pinch this level of attendance, would not astatine definite moments person immoderate issues of fraud,” wondered Pham, who oversees day-to-day operations, including management and soul management.

And that’s nary easy task, pinch 86,000 quadrate meters of abstraction presenting 35,000 useful of creation to 9 cardinal visitors a year.

A analyzable web of problems

Last week, Paris prosecutors said that 9 group were being detained successful relationship to nan summons scheme. The 9 person been formally charged and brought earlier investigating judges.

Among nan suspects are 2 Chinese circuit guides accused of bringing groups of visitors into nan depository by fraudulently reusing nan aforesaid tickets aggregate times for different visitors, allegedly pinch nan thief of Louvre employees.

The Louvre had revenge a title backmost successful December 2024, prosecutors said. Investigators estimate losses of much than 10 cardinal euros ($11.8 million) complete a decade, pinch nan alleged criminal web suspected of bringing successful up to 20 guided groups a day.

With nan judicial investigation ongoing, Pham declined to corroborate those figures.

Prosecutors said that on pinch many times reusing tickets, nan circuit guides sometimes divided groups to debar paying a required “speaking fee” — a benignant of committee paid to nan depository to let them to operate.

In nan past twelvemonth alone, nan Louvre has faced nan October 2025 high-profile theft of nan French Crown Jewels from nan Apollo Gallery, h2o leaks that damaged priceless books, aggregate unit walkouts and a wildcat onslaught past summertime complete mediocre conditions, wide tourism and understaffing.

Pressed connected whether nan latest lawsuit feeds a communicative of a Louvre retired of control, Pham pushed back.

“Quite simply, nan Louvre is nan biggest depository successful nan world,” he said.

‘Many humanities layers’

Pham described nan Louvre arsenic “a historical building that began to look astatine nan commencement of nan 13th period and has had galore humanities layers up to nan 20th century.”

“It is normal that successful this complexity we person difficulties,” he added, though he acknowledged shortcomings successful nan museum’s defenses.

“I won’t show you that we do everything very good and that we did everything well,” he said. “What I’m telling you is that nan conflict against fraud is an action of each moment.”

But Pham stressed that it was nan depository who alerted constabulary astir nan lawsuit — not nan different measurement around.

He rejected nan thought that understaffing — which has been 1 of nan reasons for aggregate unit strikes successful nan past twelvemonth — contributed to nan alleged summons reuse. “Staffing is astatine nan correct level for those functions,” he said.

He framed nan broader problem arsenic progressively digital. “Ninety percent of tickets coming are bought online, connected nan web,” he said. “So that is wherever awesome fraud takes place.”

He cited “fraudulent purchases pinch stolen cards” — “massively, we had that successful 2023,” he said — arsenic good arsenic nan “siphoning of free tickets” for resale and nan usage of clone tickets.

Pham based on that visitant caps introduced aft nan pandemic tin create scarcity that draws scammers.

“When you limit nan number of group who tin participate a depository each day, you summation nan scarcity of nan summons and that brings fraudsters,” he said, “It was for illustration for a performance pinch a prima — it’s erstwhile places are constricted that it creates moreover much fraud.”

The fraud lawsuit has landed arsenic nan Louvre is still dealing pinch nan fallout from nan situation that drew worldwide attraction — past October crown jewels theft successful which a squad of 4 group collapsed successful done a model during visiting hours and fled pinch an estimated 88 cardinal euros ($104 million) worthy of treasures.

Authorities person arrested respective suspects successful that case, but nan stolen items stay missing.

Pham said nan Louvre tightened really galore times a summons tin beryllium validated astatine its aggregate checkpoints.

Individual tickets are now constricted to 2 scans and group tickets to one, he said, a alteration meant to forestall guides from reusing nan aforesaid summons to bring successful further visitors. The depository has aggregate entree points into its wings, and prosecutors allege guides exploited summons validation to reuse nan aforesaid tickets to bring successful further groups.

“For respective months — and we did not hold for this infinitesimal of nan investigation and nan caller arrests — we transportation retired checks earlier nan checkpoint,” he said, adding that checks besides return spot “once wrong nan depository galleries.”

Pham said 2 Louvre labor questioned successful nan lawsuit person been told not to return to their jobs during nan investigation, while besides underscoring their presumption of innocence until nan investigation and proceedings are completed.

Adamson writes for nan Associated Press.