Seoul Case

  • A woman in her 30s allegedly used a macro program to automatically purchase about 2,600 tickets to K-pop concerts, police said Wednesday.
  • She allegedly obtained nine tickets to BTS' Gwanghwamun concert earlier this year using the same program.
  • Police said she used the automated program between April 2023 and March this year to buy tickets to concerts by popular K-pop artists before reselling them at marked-up prices.
  • According to investigators, she completed online purchases faster than ordinary users and bypassed purchase limits by logging in through accounts registered under the names of relatives and acquaintances.
  • Most K-pop concerts in South Korea limit ticket purchases to one or two tickets per person for each performance date.
  • Police first detected the scheme on Feb. 23, during ticket sales for BTS' Gwanghwamun concert, which took place in March.
  • Police intervened before she could resell the nine Gwanghwamun tickets she obtained.
  • Authorities estimate she generated around 442 million won ($319,000) in illegal proceeds from ticket scalping.
  • The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency said it referred her to prosecutors without detention on charges of violating the Information and Communications Network Act, obstruction of business, and the Public Performance Act.
  • Police have sought a pre-indictment seizure and preservation order for the alleged criminal proceeds, preventing the assets from being disposed of before trial.

Separate Ulsan Case

  • Police also announced a separate ticket-scalping case in Ulsan.
  • A suspect in his 30s was arrested and referred to prosecutors in that case.
  • The suspect allegedly developed a macro program to purchase more than 1,700 tickets to K-pop concerts between November 2024 and October 2025.
  • Police said the tickets were resold for three to 13 times their original prices.
  • The scheme generated around 420 million won in profits.

Upcoming Penalty Change

  • The announcement comes days before stricter penalties for illegal ticket resales take effect.
  • Beginning Friday, revised provisions of the Public Performance Act and the National Sports Promotion Act will allow authorities to impose administrative fines of up to 50 times the value of illegally resold tickets.