Macro-wielding scalpers arrested after pocketing W2.4b in ticket resales

Police have arrested a large number of professional ticket scalpers who used macro programs to bulk-purchase concert tickets, professional baseball seats and holiday train tickets before reselling them at steep markups worth billions of won.

Among those detained was a particularly egregious scalper who spent eight years hoarding and reselling 2.4 billion won ($1.74 million) worth of tickets using automated programs — a case that laid bare the scale of scalping crimes that have long denied ordinary fans a fair shot at purchasing tickets.

The Korean National Police Agency's National Investigation Headquarters said it conducted a special crackdown on macro-assisted ticket scalping from March 3 through Aug. 31, uncovering 126 cases and arresting 157 people. Both figures represent roughly a sixfold increase over the previous focused enforcement period, which yielded 21 cases and 26 arrests. Police also secured pre-indictment asset preservation orders on 2 billion won in criminal proceeds.

By category, cases involving large-scale performances such as concerts were the most common at 61 cases involving 73 suspects, followed by sports events including baseball at 50 cases and 64 suspects, train tickets at 8 cases and 11 suspects, and other categories at 7 cases and 9 suspects. By age, suspects in their 30s accounted for 68 people, or 43.3 percent of the total, while those in their 20s made up 53, or 33.8 percent — meaning people in their 20s and 30s together represented 77.1 percent of all those arrested.

The crackdown also exposed corporate-style scalping operations that generated hundreds of millions of won in profits. The Gyeonggi Province Northern Police Agency arrested a professional scalper who had used macro programs over eight years to resell 2.4 billion won worth of concert tickets, and secured 1.2 billion won in asset preservation orders on the criminal proceeds. The Ulsan Metropolitan Police Agency separately arrested a scalper who resold 800 million won worth of performance tickets over roughly 11 months, preserving 400 million won in proceeds.

Police notified ticketing platforms, rail operators and credit card companies of security vulnerabilities identified during the investigation and requested that they address the gaps. Authorities also updated their investigative guidelines in line with revised enforcement rules under the Performance Act and the National Sports Promotion Act, which took effect Aug. 28, and will continue the crackdown on macro developers and distributors as well as scalping of chuseok holiday train tickets through Oct. 31.

"Bulk ticket purchases using macros and the subsequent resale of those tickets rob the public of a fair opportunity to buy," National Investigation Headquarters Chief Hong Seok-gi said. "We will rigorously pursue criminal penalties and thoroughly trace all illicit proceeds."