Scalper Nets $1.8M Reselling BTS Tickets at 27x

As of September 16, 2026, Gyeonggi Northern Provincial Police announced they arrested and referred a man in his 30s to prosecutors on charges of business obstruction for buying up huge blocks of concert and event tickets and reselling them at a markup. Using bots and accounts registered to acquaintances, he reportedly secured 8,967 tickets and resold them for up to 27 times face value, pocketing roughly 2.4 billion won (about $1.8 million). Police say the proceeds were funneled into real estate purchases.

8,967 ticketsTickets the scalper acquired and resold

About 2.4 billion won (~$1.8M)Estimated profit from ticket scalping

Up to 27xMarkup over face value on resold tickets

1,264,390,000 won (~$950,000)Assets frozen before indictment

Key points

Gyeonggi Northern Provincial Police's Cyber Crime Investigation Unit 2 arrested the man, identified only as "A," on business obstruction charges and referred him to prosecutors in June.
He used bot software and seven accounts registered under relatives' names to buy up large blocks of tickets for concerts and sporting events.
For a 2019 BTS concert in Jamsil, tickets with a face value of 110,000 won resold for as much as 3 million won.
Police froze more than 1.2 billion won in his assets before indictment, including two commercial properties and bank deposits.

Cyber crime investigators in Gyeonggi Province's northern district have wrapped up their case against a man in his 30s who ran a long-running ticket resale operation, and he's now headed to trial. Investigators found he had no other job and lived off ticket reselling alone, a hustle that ran for more than seven years, from around fall 2018 until this past spring. To keep up appearances, he'd even registered a legitimate e-commerce business.

His method: run bot software to snap up tickets the moment sales opened, then split the haul across seven accounts registered to himself, family members, and relatives. Once he had the tickets, he'd hand off wristbands in person on show day, change the shipping address to the buyer's, or simply transfer the booking account itself.

Prices varied wildly by event. Tickets for a 2019 BTS concert in Jamsil that listed for 110,000 won ($83) sold for as much as 3 million won ($2,260). Tickets for a Stray Kids show last year priced at 165,000 won went for 2 million won. Seventeen fan-meeting tickets jumped from 110,000 won to 1.8 million won, and tickets to Bruno Mars's 2023 Korea concert, originally around 250,000 won, changed hands for nearly five times that.

The man reportedly traded tips and recruited accomplices through what was once the country's largest online chatroom for ticket scalping — since shut down. When news broke in March that police had rounded up a large scalping ring, he cut ties immediately and wiped his computer and phone, even asking an AI chatbot about the state of the police investigation. But police were already working the case through that same chatroom, and forensic evidence recovered from a USB drive during a raid was enough to prove the full scope of his operation.

During questioning, the man claimed he didn't know the reselling was illegal and said he'd paid his taxes properly. The court disagreed, finding the charges well-substantiated enough to issue an arrest warrant. Police determined he pocketed roughly two-thirds of his sales as actual profit and used the money to buy an apartment and two commercial properties. By the time he was caught, he'd already sold the apartment, but police placed the remaining commercial properties and bank deposits under an asset freeze ahead of trial.

In Korea right nowIn Korea, the case has reignited debate over ticket scalping across the concert industry. A revised Performance Act that took effect in late August now allows prosecutors to punish unauthorized ticket resale outright, regardless of whether bots were used — and this arrest is being cited as an early test of how well that law works in practice. For K-pop fans who've long grumbled about tickets reselling for tens of times face value, the police's vow to claw back every cent of illicit profit is drawing plenty of attention.

FAQ

Was concert ticket scalping already illegal in Korea?

Bot-assisted purchases were already punishable before the change, but the revised Performance Act, in effect since late August, broadened the law to penalize unauthorized ticket resale itself, regardless of whether bots were involved.

What exactly is the "macro program" at the center of this case?

It's bot software that automates seat selection and checkout on ticketing sites, letting a user snap up seats far faster than a real person could — and grab far more of the best seats than anyone buying manually.

What happens to the frozen assets?

The commercial properties and bank deposits that police and prosecutors identified as criminal proceeds have been placed under an asset preservation order before indictment, meaning they can't be sold or transferred until the trial concludes.