If you’re planning a trip to New York City, it’s important to know which vendors you can trust to give you a fair deal on the Big Apple’s many attractions. And because not just anyone is allowed to sell access to the city’s tourist gems, the New York Police Department has arrested 21 vendors accused of pushing fake tickets to see the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.

Police cracked down on a slew of ticket sellers in Battery Park who advertise tickets to visit Lady Liberty, but are, in reality, tickets that are actually for the ferries that cycle the New York Harbor without stopping at Liberty Island or Ellis Island, reports The New York Times.

According to John J. Miller, deputy police commissioner for intelligence and counterterrorism, 21 vendors from five different companies are now facing charges of fraudulent accosting after an investigation into ticket-selling practices in the area of Battery Park, where the ferries depart.

“What we found in the undercover portion of this was that these aggressive ticket sellers preyed largely on people that they identified as tourists,” Miller told The New York Times, “particularly foreign tourists, by promising them that the tickets to the Statue of Liberty boat were all sold out, but that if they bought these tickets, it would take them to Liberty Island and they would have to charge a little extra and so on.”

Things can get physical in some cases where tourists and these fake ticket sellers interact, including one recent instance where a vendor allegedly punched someone who refused to purchase a ticket.

Thinking of visiting NYC soon? There’s only one legitimate way to buy a spot on the boats that ferry tourists first to Liberty Island, and then to Ellis Island, and that’s through Statue Cruises official ticket office, whether on location inside Castle Clinton in Battery Park, or online.

21 Vendors Face Charges Of Selling Fake Tickets to the Statue of Liberty [The New York Times]

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