Police arrest ticket scalpers who used macro programs

Police have arrested ticket scalpers who used "macro programs" to purchase popular concert tickets, such as those for singer Lim Young-woong, and resold them at inflated prices. This marks the first arrest since the revised Performance Act came into effect in March.

On Tuesday, the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency announced the arrest of seven individuals on charges of violating the Performance Act. The investigation began after tickets for Lim Young-woong’s concert skyrocketed to 5 million won, despite the new legal restrictions. The suspects, all in their 20s or 30s, were college students or job seekers familiar with macro programs and committed the crime to earn pocket money or living expenses.

Macros are programs that automate and repeat commands, allowing users to bypass manual steps such as logging in and purchasing tickets. The suspects used these programs to secure tickets within 1-2 minutes, bypassing regular buyers.

Over five months, the criminals made an estimated 130 million won. One of the suspects, Mr. A, made over 13 million won from selling 15 tickets, including Lim Young-woong’s concert tickets, which he purchased for 187,000 won and resold for over 800,000 won. Similarly, tickets for Na Hoon-a’s concert were resold for 500,000 won, and Byun Woo-seok's fan meeting tickets, originally 77,000 won, were resold for 2.35 million won.

In response to the rise in macro usage for ticket reselling, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism revised the Performance Act, effective March 22. The act prohibits using macros to purchase and resell tickets for profit, with violators facing up to one year in prison or fines of up to 10 million won.


서지원 기자 wish@donga.com