Scalpers who used bots to resell tickets at up to 30 times face price sent to prosecutors

Scalpers who used macro programs to bulk-purchase tickets to professional baseball games and popular concerts — then resold them at up to 30 times the face price — have been caught by police. The suspects operated group chat rooms on SNS to share macro programs, scalping tips and event information.

The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency's cyber investigation unit said Friday it had forwarded 12 people — including a suspect in their 30s identified only as A — to prosecutors without detention on charges of violating the National Sports Promotion Act, the Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection, and the Performance Act.

The suspects are accused of using macro programs to illegally purchase a total of 3,069 tickets to sporting events and popular performances between December 2023 and last August, then reselling them for profit. In one case, a fan-signing event ticket for a popular actor — originally priced at 79,000 won ($59) — was resold for 2.4 million won, roughly 30 times the face value.

The resold tickets broke down as follows: 1,496 professional baseball tickets, 1,298 idol concert tickets, 170 musical tickets, 59 fan-signing event tickets and 46 tickets to other sporting events.

Through these activities, the group earned a total of 416.57 million won. Police classified the proceeds as criminal gains and applied to the court for pre-indictment seizure and collection.

Revised versions of the National Sports Promotion Act and the Performance Act — commonly known as the "anti-scalping law" — took effect Aug. 28. The amendments added to the list of punishable offenses the act of circumventing technical security measures to purchase tickets for resale, as well as habitual or commercial ticket reselling.

Violators can now face fines of up to 50 times the sale price, and profits from illegal ticket sales are subject to confiscation and recovery.

"We are currently investigating cases involving the illegal resale of professional baseball postseason tickets," a police official said, adding that authorities plan to continue working with relevant agencies to strictly investigate illegal ticket purchases.