A ticket scalper who made billions of won in profit — including reselling a 110,000-won BTS concert ticket for 3 million won — has been arrested.
The Cybercrime Investigation Unit 2 of the Gyeonggi Bukbu Provincial Police Agency arrested a man in his 30s, identified only as A, on charges of obstruction of business and referred him to prosecutors on the 16th, according to reporting by The Seoul Economic Daily on the 17th.
A is accused of buying 8,967 tickets to popular concerts and sporting events between September 2018 and April this year and reselling them at a markup. Total sales came to about 2.4 billion won ($1.7 million). Police believe roughly two-thirds of that amount was profit.
A mainly acquired tickets using macro programs along with accounts belonging to family members and relatives. He then resold them illegally by changing delivery addresses, transferring tickets online and handing over entry wristbands at concert venues.
In one case, A bought a ticket to a BTS concert at Jamsil Sports Complex in 2019 for 110,000 won and resold it for 3 million won. Last year, he bought a ticket to a Seventeen fan meeting for 110,000 won and resold it for 1.8 million won.
In other cases, a ticket to the 2024 Team K League match against Tottenham went from 400,000 won to 1.65 million won, and a ticket to Bruno Mars' 2023 concert in Korea was bought for 250,000 won and sold for 1.2 million won — markups of up to about 30 times the face value.
A joined the country's largest social media group chat for scalped ticket trading, where he obtained ticket information and macro programs. Police shut down that group chat through an investigation earlier this year.
Police found that A used the criminal proceeds to buy one apartment and two commercial units in Gyeonggi Province. A had already sold the apartment, and police identified the two commercial units and bonds held in A's name, worth a combined 1.26 billion won, as criminal proceeds and secured a pre-indictment forfeiture order. A had no regular job after graduating from college and made a living selling scalped tickets.
After seeing a news report in March that police had broken up a large-scale scalping cartel, A attempted to destroy evidence by formatting the PC and mobile phone he had been using. He also closed down the business he had registered to make his scalping operation appear legitimate.
Police are continuing to investigate ticket scalping, including the group chat mentioned above.
