Ticket Scalper Arrested for Reselling BTS Tickets at 30 Times Face Value, Pocketing Billions of Won

A ticket scalper who bought up concert tickets in bulk and resold them at up to 30 times face value, raking in billions of won, has been arrested by police — including reselling a BTS concert ticket originally priced at 110,000 won for 3 million won. Police launched a crackdown on ticket scalping, which causes significant harm to fans who genuinely want to see the performances.

According to police, Mr. A, a man in his 30s, is suspected of hoarding tickets using accounts belonging to seven family members and relatives, along with macro programs (software that automatically performs rapid clicking). His targets ranged from famous idol performances to sporting events, and he is believed to have illegally resold a total of 8,967 tickets. Investigators confirmed that he resold tickets to a Seventeen fan meeting for 1.8 million won.

Mr. A's scalping operation began in September 2018. By April, some seven years and seven months later, his sales had reached approximately 2.4 billion won. He also attempted to destroy evidence shortly before his arrest. In early this year, after learning that a large ticket-scalping cartel had been busted, he is suspected of trying to erase evidence by formatting his PC and mobile phone. He also shut down the business he had been using to make his scalping operation appear legitimate in April.

Police viewed Mr. A's actions not as simple reselling, but as unfair conduct that disrupts market prices. Police seized and provisionally confiscated over 1.26 billion won in total, including two commercial properties believed to have been purchased with criminal proceeds as well as deposit claims, and referred Mr. A to prosecutors in June under arrest on charges of obstruction of business.