Several Pittsburgh Penguins fans scored playoff tickets from scalpers outside Mellon Arena just before Saturday night's game, only to find out when they tried to enter the arena that the tickets were forgeries.

Luckily for other fans, the three men who sold them the forged tickets were still nearby and were arrested when the victims pointed them out to Pittsburgh police working off-duty details.

El Rasheen Dozier, 36, of Cleveland, was charged with forgery, while Clifton McIntosh, 49, of Pittsburgh, and Alfonzo Clark, 36, of the Bronx, N.Y., were charged with forgery and theft by deception, according to Pittsburgh police.

At least two of the men, Mr. Dozier and Mr. Clark, were trying to sell yet more counterfeit tickets when they were arrested, according to a Pittsburgh police criminal complaint.

Penguins spokesman Tom McMillan did not respond to a request for comment about the forgeries.

At about 6 p.m. on Saturday, according to police, several people told Officer Bryan Sellers that they had paid $500 each for tickets that turned out to be counterfeit and gave Mr. Dozier's description as the man who had sold them. Officer Sellers said he spotted Mr. Dozier almost immediately at Chatham Street and Centre Avenue.

Mr. Dozier, he said, was talking to passersby and holding out tickets in his left hand. When Mr. Dozier saw an officer approach another man nearby, he "instantly turned around and started walking away," according to the criminal complaint.

"Dozier walked straight toward me," said Officer Sellers. "At that point, Dozier began to crumple the tickets in his hand and attempted to cross the street."

Officer Sellers said he grabbed Mr. Dozier by his right wrist, handcuffed him until he could check if the tickets were valid and retrieved the tickets that Mr. Dozier by then had thrown down.

At the arena, Officer Sellers said, a ticket taker scanned the tickets and said they were counterfeit.

"The tickets were on a different type of paper and the word 'Mellon' was misspelled (MELON)," according to the complaint.

Then at about 7:45 p.m., Mark Milburn approached Officer Harry Hilley, who had helped with the first arrest. Mr. Milburn told Officer Hilley he had bought two tickets for $700, only to find out they were counterfeit.

"We had the victim call the person they had bought the tickets from on the phone to tell them that they needed more tickets and wanted to meet him so they could purchase them," Officer Hilley stated in a criminal complaint.

Mr. Clark, Officer Hilley stated, agreed to meet Mr. Milburn on Washington Place near Fifth Avenue, and then was arrested when he approached Mr. Milburn. While the officers were waiting for a transport truck, another victim, Anthony Palarbis, told them he had bought four tickets for $1,600 from Mr. Clark, only to discover that they were forged.

"While there with both victims, we had both of them call the phone number of the person in which [sic] they had called to set up the purchase of the tickets," and Mr. Clark's cell phone rang.

When arrested, Mr. Clark was carrying about $1,200 and three tickets.

Just 15 minutes later, Officer Hilley arrested Mr. McIntosh -- again on Washington Place near Fifth Avenue -- after a victim, Alex Kusiewicz, said Mr. McIntosh had sold him two fake tickets for a total of $350.

Another victim from Green Tree bought forged tickets online, and Pittsburgh police are including that crime in their investigation. Police are urging additional victims, and anyone else with information about forged tickets, to contact their local police departments.