A High Court judge in the UK has found three people guilty in a case relating to the Beijing Olympics ticketing scam. They were ordered to pay damages for fronting an internet events company that failed to provide tickets for the Beijing Olympics, despite clients paying millions of pounds.

The court found Allan Thomas Scott, Gerardus Petrus Paulus van Meer and Terence Shepherd – who were involved in the internet company Xclusive Ltd – guilty of deceit and conspiracy to injure by unlawful means. They were made personally liable for the company's debts and ordered to pay the $500,000 costs of the claimant, Wirecard Bank, which had acted as Xclusive's credit card processing company. The court has reserved judgment on the extent of the final liability.

Some 4,000 people ordered Olympic tickets from the internet site but never received them.

Wirecard welcomed the judgement. Tim Boyce, a partner for Osborne Clarke, the prosecuting law firm, said:

"This is a victory for the payments industry and for fans of sport and music everywhere. The decision sends a clear signal to ticket scammers around the world: you will be pursued for your illegal activities."

But Boyce also predicted that, despite tighter legislation to protect London 2012 ticket sales, by the end of 2011 the top 10 search engine results for Olympic tickets would include bogus sites. He said:

"Scammers exploit credit card payments systems to put cash in their own pockets upfront allowing them plenty of time to do a runner before the event is due to take place. Add to this search prioritisation technology and a lack of coordinated law enforcement and you have a lethal cocktail for fraud and deception."