Fans of pop stars such as Beyonce are being priced out of gigs by touts bulk-buying tickets using super-bots.
There are calls for a crackdown as experts reveal a surge in criminals using software to illegally harvest tickets and resell them for huge mark-ups.
Hundreds of tickets for Madonna ’s Celebration Tour appeared on resale websites within minutes of them going on sale last month – a £95 ticket to see her at London’s O2 Arena offered on Viagogo for more than £2,000.
And despite efforts by Ticketmaster to cut down on bots with its Verified Fan system, hundreds of tickets for Beyonce’s Renaissance World Tour ended up on resale sites. A £107 ticket for the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London was on for £4,130.
Ticketing security expert Reg Walker said there has been “a massive escalation” of harvesting using aggressive software, adding: “Some bot attacks have become so sophisticated it’s almost impossible to detect them. We are seeing thousands of identities registered with ticket companies to buy tickets.”
He said people who have used bots to bulk-buy items like iPhones are turning to ticket touting – and there is a new generation of young, tech-savvy armchair touts “smashing ticket systems to bits”.
Mr Walker said no-one in law enforce- ment is interested as the Competition and Markets Authority lacks powers to investigate fraud, National Trading Standards has no money and the police do not see it as a priority. Yet the CMA says secondary ticket sites in the UK process £350million in resales a year.
Mr Walker said: “Touts acquiring tickets with bots are doing so illegally. They are being resold via Viagogo. Viagogo doesn’t ask why a guy in a flat in Wigan has come up with 50 tickets for a show that has just gone on sale.
“Their business model is dependent on touts harvesting tickets and reselling them through their site.”
Mr Walker wants the UK to follow the lead of Ireland and France, which ban ticket resale above face value. He said: “Unless there is more enforcement of existing legislation and potentially new legislation, we’ll lose the ability to sell tickets at face value.”
Viagogo said: “[We oppose] the use of bots to illegally or unfairly buy tickets from primary sellers and we have supported legislation that prohibits their use. If made aware tickets were obtained using bots, we remove them and penalise those responsible. Blocking bots is the responsibility of the primary ticket platforms.
“This is something we’re unable to do without open distribution models.”
The Government said: “The use of bots as described is illegal under the Breaching Limits on Ticket Sales Regulations 2017.
“Primary ticket providers who detect such activity should report it via Action Fraud to the police.”
