Ticket scalper profited $120M by gaming Ticketmaster with bots
US authorities sued ticket reseller REPS & Co for buying 18.6 million tickets through thousands of fake accounts.
The Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission filed a lawsuit against REPS & Co, a San Diego ticket reseller. The company allegedly opened thousands of accounts across Ticketmaster, AXS and other platforms to get around purchase limits.
REPS & Co bought over 18.6 million tickets for about 83,500 events and resold them for more than $120 million in total profit. For one Beyoncé Renaissance tour show at Arrowhead Stadium in 2023, REPS used about 1,300 accounts to buy 7,624 tickets and made about $833,323 in profit.
The company also allegedly hired people overseas to make purchases and used VPN software to hide their location. Authorities say the business model deliberately targets high-demand events to buy up tickets before regular fans can, then resells them at marked-up prices.
The FTC said companies gaming the ticket system are now under watch and will face legal action.
- 18.6 million across 83,500 events
- Total tickets bought
- $120+ million
- Total profit
- 7,624 from 1,300 accounts
- Beyoncé show tickets
- $833,323
- Beyoncé show profit
Why it mattersTicket scalping drives up concert prices for ordinary fans trying to buy seats at shows and events they want to attend.
AustraliaAustralian concert-goers buying tickets for international tours face similar scalping pressure, with the same purchase-limit protections authorities are now enforcing.
✓ Claims checked against the source. checked 3 h ago
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