SEOUL, Sept 18 — A man in his 30s has been arrested for allegedly reselling 8,967 tickets to K-pop concerts, sporting events and other high-demand occasions at inflated prices, generating about 2.4 billion won (RM7.06 million) in revenue over more than seven years, police said yesterday.
The Korea Herald reported that the Gyeonggi Bukbu Provincial Police Agency referred the man to prosecutors on charges including obstruction of business and violations of the Public Performance Act, and prosecutors have since indicted him.
Police said the man allegedly used automated macro programmes and accounts belonging to relatives to secure the tickets between September 2018 and early April this year before reselling them at substantial mark-ups.
In one case, he allegedly resold a BTS concert ticket in Seoul in 2019 for three million won after buying it for 110,000 won, more than 27 times its original price.
He was also accused of selling a Stray Kids concert ticket in 2025 for two million won after paying 165,000 won, while a Seventeen fan meeting ticket bought for 110,000 won was allegedly resold for 1.8 million won.
Other tickets allegedly resold included one for a 2024 football match between Team K League and Tottenham Hotspur, which was sold for 1.65 million won after being bought for 400,000 won, and a Bruno Mars concert ticket in Korea in 2023 that was reportedly resold for 1.2 million won after being purchased for 250,000 won.
Police estimated that about two-thirds of the 2.4 billion won in resale revenue, or roughly 1.6 billion won, represented profit.
Authorities said ticket reselling became the man’s main source of income after he graduated from university and that he had no other regular occupation.
Police said he registered an e-commerce business to make his activities appear legitimate and avoid attracting scrutiny over large amounts of money moving through his bank account.
The man was also active in a large social media group chat allegedly used for illicit ticket trading, where members exchanged information about macro programmes, ticket availability and police enforcement activity.
The chat reportedly had more than 1,300 members, while police said the man used proceeds from the alleged operation to buy an apartment and two commercial properties in Gyeonggi Province.
Although the apartment had been sold, investigators identified two commercial properties and financial claims in his name worth a combined 1.26 billion won as alleged criminal proceeds and sought to freeze them before his indictment.
The suspect stopped reselling tickets in April after police arrested 16 members of what authorities described as a large-scale ticket scalping ring that had handled about 7.1 billion won in illegal resales through the same online community.
Police said he subsequently closed his business registration and reset computers and mobile phones in an alleged attempt to destroy evidence, but investigators recovered data through digital forensics and materials seized from his home.
Authorities are continuing to investigate other suspected scalpers linked to the online network, as ticket scalping faces increased scrutiny in South Korea amid strong demand for major K-pop concerts and sporting events.
A revised Public Performance Act and National Sports Promotion Act took effect on August 28, expanding punishable ticket-resale offences beyond cases involving macro programmes and allowing authorities to act against illegal resale even when automated purchasing software is not used.
