AN IT specialist was arrested on Friday following a tip-off that he was selling World Cup accreditation cards.

The man is also suspected of having sold more than 100 tickets for the Fifa Kickoff Celebration concert, which was staged at Orlando Stadium in Soweto on June 10.

He allegedly sold the concert tickets for R450 and the accreditation cards for R250. The suspect also allegedly dabbled in illegal match ticket sales.

Acting on a tip-off the police arranged to buy five tickets from him and so caught him red-handed.

Gauteng community safety spokesperson Busaphi Nxumalo told Sowetan that the arrest took place at a filling station near the Diepkloof police station.

The man was in possession of seven accreditation cards, which would allow buyers access to all zones at the concert and all games.

"We apprehended the man in question at a Sasol garage near the Diepkloof police station on Friday afternoon. He led us to an address in Dube, where we arrested a suspected accomplice after we found two computers that had templates of both the concert tickets and accreditation cards," Nxumalo said.

Police also confiscated the man's cellphone after discovering text messages from his disgruntled girlfriend, threatening to expose him for his alleged crimes.

Nxumalo said they decided to keep the cellphone and its contents as evidence.

She said the alleged scam artist copied the concert ticket from an original he had bought and proceeded to print the fakes at an Internet café in Orlando East in order to "throw off any suspecting people".

It is alleged that the IT man was waiting for a customer when the long arm of the law got to him.

The alleged scam artists, whose names are known to Sowetan, are expected to appear in court today.