UIJEONGBU — A man in his 30s has been arrested and referred to prosecutors on charges of using a macro program to buy up large volumes of tickets for concerts and sporting events and reselling them at markups of as much as 30 times face value. Police said the man, identified only as A, sold 8,967 tickets over roughly seven years and seven months for a total of 2.4 billion won ($1.7 million).
The Cyber Crime Investigation Unit 2 of the Gyeonggi Bukbu Provincial Police Agency said on the 16th that it had detained the man on charges of obstruction of business and referred the case to prosecutors.
According to police, from September 2018 through April this year the suspect used a macro program to bulk-book tickets for concerts by popular idol groups, performances by visiting overseas artists, trot shows, musicals and sporting events, then resold them at a markup.
Investigators found that he obtained the macro program online and used seven accounts belonging to himself, family members and relatives to secure sought-after tickets. He was also found to have joined the country's largest ticket-scalping group chat on social media, where he received scalping information and macro programs. The Gyeonggi Bukbu police shut down that chat room in March after arresting its operator.
He passed the tickets to buyers online or by changing the delivery address. On the day of a performance, he also handed over entry wristbands to buyers at the venue.
The actual sale prices diverged sharply from face value. In October 2019 he bought a ticket to a BTS concert at Jamsil Sports Complex for 110,000 won and sold it for 3 million won. He raised the price of a 2025 Seventeen fan meeting ticket from 110,000 won to as much as 1.8 million won, and a ticket to the 2024 football match between Team K League and Tottenham Hotspur from 400,000 won to 1.65 million won.
Stray Kids concert tickets went from 165,000 won to as much as 2 million won, and tickets to Bruno Mars' 2023 concert in Seoul from 250,000 won to as much as 1.2 million won. Police said some tickets carried markups of up to about 30 times.
Police estimate his total sales at about 2.4 billion won and believe roughly two-thirds of that was profit.
Investigators found that he had no regular job after graduating from university and made his living from scalping. He even registered a business in the e-commerce sector to make the operation appear legitimate.
With the proceeds he bought one apartment and two commercial units in Gyeonggi Province. The apartment has already been sold, police said. Police identified the two remaining commercial properties and deposits held in his name, totaling 1.264 billion won, as criminal proceeds and secured a pre-indictment preservation order for forfeiture.
Investigators said he stopped the scheme in March after seeing news reports that police had broken up a large scalping ring, fearing an investigation. He then closed the business he had run for seven years and attempted to destroy evidence by formatting his computer and mobile phone.
Police, however, recovered a USB drive containing records of the transactions during a search and seizure, confirming his past dealings. After forensic analysis of the seized items established a long-running pattern of scalping, police concluded the charges were substantiated and placed him in custody.
The suspect denied the allegations during questioning, telling police he had not known that ticket scalping was illegal and had paid his taxes faithfully.
The Gyeonggi Bukbu police said that under the revised Performance Act, which took effect on Aug. 28 last year, the illegal resale of performance tickets can be punished regardless of whether a macro program was used.
"Ticket scalping is a crime that robs K-pop fans of a fair chance to see performances," a police official said. "We will arrest the other suspects under investigation and thoroughly trace the criminal proceeds."
