VANCOUVER - Olympic volunteers hoping to turn a quick buck by selling their complimentary tickets to the rehearsal of the opening Games ceremonies are being warned by organizers that the tickets could be cancelled if scalped.

``Under no circumstance are these tickets to be sold,'' warns an e-mail from the ``ceremonies team'' to volunteers, sent a day after thousands of volunteers lined up for almost three hours to pick up the tickets for the Feb. 10 show at B.C. Place.

``Don't miss a chance to see the spectacular show before anybody else in the world,'' said one online posting that was asking $150 for one of the 50,000 tickets.

Another posting responding to the VANOC threat said: ``Just to let everyone know, there is no way to track whether you bought the tickets from someone or got it from them just because you're a friend.''

The poster also said the volunteers should be able to do what they want with the tickets. ``That was the whole point of the tickets giveaway,'' it said.

Neither prospective seller returned a request for comment.

Vancouver Province