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Police apprehend scalpers who made over 7 billion won in profit from illegal ticket sales

Published: 11 Mar. 2026, 16:27 Updated: 11 Mar. 2026, 18:19

Evidence seized by police from a group accused of illegally mass purchasing K-pop concert tickets using macro programs and reselling them at inflated prices. [GYEONGGI BUKBU PROVINCIAL POLICE AGENCY]

Police have apprehended a group of ticket scalpers who allegedly made 7.1 billion won ($4.8 million) in illicit profits using input computer programs known as macros to bulk purchase K-pop concert tickets and resell them at inflated prices.

The Gyeonggi Bukbu Provincial Police Agency’s cyber investigation unit said Wednesday that it apprehended 16 suspected scalpers on charges including obstruction of business and violations of the Public Performance Act. Three of them, who allegedly led the sales operation, were detained and referred to prosecutors.

The suspects are accused of purchasing large quantities of tickets for popular K-pop concerts using macro programs from October 2022 until recently and reselling them for up to 25 times the original price.

Police said the trio of detained suspects played key roles in the operation as the heads of sales and development. They allegedly divided responsibilities, including macro development, ticket purchasing and management of the resale network.

A fan of boy band BTS sits in front of a screen, as ticketing is set to open for BTS’s first concerts in Korea in years as part of the world tour, at an internet cafe in Seoul on Jan. 22. Image is unrelated to the story. [REUTERS/YONHAP]

Tickets obtained through macro programs were sold at premium prices through ticket trading platforms and social media to individuals or foreign scalpers. In one case, a single person secured up to 126 tickets, and tickets originally priced at around 200,000 won were resold for as much as 5 million won.

The group also used identity-altering programs, including a fake mobile application designed to resemble the government’s online administrative services app, to forge mobile identification cards. Police said the forged IDs were used to collect tickets at concert venues without raising suspicion.

According to investigators, the suspects developed and used macro programs that bypassed ticketing platform security systems to secure large numbers of tickets for popular performances. The programs were designed to complete seat selections before ticket sales opened and immediately proceed to the payment stage once reservations began, or to shorten the waiting queue for ticket purchases.

The group operated mainly through a social media group chat they created, which had about 1,309 members. In the chat room, members shared information including ticketing platform security policies, macro development methods, scalping prices, concert information and police crackdowns.

Young fans dance outside the Stade de France stadium before the concert of girl group Blackpink in Saint-Denis, in the northern outskirts of Paris, on Aug. 2, 2025. Image is unrelated to the story. [AFP/YONHAP]

They also recruited accomplices through the chat room and arranged intermediaries and people who would collect tickets on-site. The group additionally purchased ticketing accounts and fan club accounts needed for online reservations and used them in their crimes.

Police said they began an intensive crackdown on scalping crimes involving macro programs in August last year. Investigators first arrested lower-level sellers at concert venues and gradually expanded the investigation to intermediaries and the ringleaders.

A police representative said the chat room was not private, like those commonly used on Telegram, but publicly accessible.

“It showed that scalpers are widespread around us,” the official said.

Police said they are tracking another suspect who allegedly led the development of the macros and fled overseas. Authorities plan to pursue him through an Interpol red notice while continuing investigations into additional scalpers and overseas ticket resale networks.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY JEON ICK-JIN [[email protected]]