"Bought BTS concert tickets for 110,000 won and sold them for 3 million won"... Ticket scalper who bought an apartment with proceeds from selling scalped tickets finally arrested

[Financial News] A ticket scalper who made illicit profits of several billion won by selling tickets for popular idol concerts and sports events has been arrested.
According to Yonhap News and others on the 16th, the Cybercrime Investigation Unit 2 of the Gyeonggi Northern Police Agency arrested and transferred a man in his 30s, identified as A, on charges of obstruction of business.
A is accused of purchasing 8,967 tickets for popular performances and sports events between September 2018 and April of this year and selling them at a premium.
The investigation revealed that A joined a group chat on the largest domestic ticket-scalping social networking service (SNS), which was shut down following a police investigation earlier this year, and engaged in the activity after receiving shared information about ticket scalping and macro programs. Macro programs are software that automates repetitive tasks, such as mouse clicks or key inputs.
A was found to have used a macro program to purchase various tickets, including those for performances by famous idols, concerts by foreign singers visiting Korea, concerts by popular trot singers, musicals, and sports events, using accounts belonging to himself, his family, and relatives. He then illegally resold the tickets through methods such as changing the delivery address, transferring them online, and transferring entry wristbands at the concert venue.
The total sales amount was confirmed to be around 2.4 billion won, and the police estimate that about two-thirds of this was profit.
A was found to have bought tickets for a BTS concert held at Jamsil Sports Complex in 2019 for 110,000 won and resold them for 3 million won. He also bought tickets for a Seventeen fan meeting last year for 110,000 won and sold them for 1.8 million won.
He was also found to have made excessive profits by selling tickets for the 2024 Team K League–Tottenham Hotspur Football Club soccer match for 1.65 million won after buying them for 400,000 won, and tickets for the 2023 Bruno Mars concert in Korea for 1.2 million won after buying them for 250,000 won—selling them at up to about 30 times the original price.
A continued his criminal activities by even registering his business as an e-commerce operator to disguise his ticket scalping as a legitimate business. However, after seeing reports in March that a "large-scale ticket-scalping cartel had been apprehended," he stopped illegally selling tickets and closed the business he had operated for seven years. It was also confirmed that he attempted to destroy evidence by formatting his PC and mobile phone.
It was confirmed that, after graduating from university, A purchased one apartment and two commercial properties in Gyeonggi Province with criminal proceeds earned from selling scalped tickets despite having no other occupation, and that he had already disposed of the apartment.
The police identified two commercial properties and bonds in A's name, totaling 1.26 billion won, as criminal proceeds and took measures to preserve them before indictment.
A police official emphasized, "Ticket scalping is a crime that deprives K-pop fans of their legitimate opportunity to attend performances and constitutes an unfair practice that disrupts the cost of living," adding, "We will definitely apprehend the other suspects currently under investigation and thoroughly investigate the proceeds of their crimes."
[email protected] Kim Su-yeon Reporter