A scalper was caught illegally buying a large number of tickets for singer G-Dragon's concert in Taiwan and reselling them at a marked-up price, amassing 20 million New Taiwan dollars (approximately 90 million won). This scalper also reportedly held a large number of tickets for the upcoming concert of the K-pop girl group BLACKPINK, scheduled to take place in Kaohsiung in October.
According to Taiwan media outlets such as China Times and Liberty Times on the 23rd, the Criminal Investigation Bureau of Taiwan's Ministry of the Interior announced that they had arrested four individuals, including a scalper surnamed Liu, the previous day. They are suspected of selling scalped tickets during G-Dragon's world tour event 'WeberMensch' held at Taipei Arena from the 11th to the 13th of this month.
The Criminal Investigation Bureau conducted a raid on their premises on the 15th in conjunction with local police after receiving relevant intelligence regarding Liu and others. Approximately 1,500 tickets' exchange serial numbers and around 1,000 tickets for G-Dragon's concert were discovered at their location. It was also reported that they possessed 500 tickets for the concert of the K-pop girl group BLACKPINK, which is set to take place in Kaohsiung in October. Various pieces of evidence, including 164,000 New Taiwan dollars in cash, were also found.
According to the Criminal Investigation Bureau, Liu, in his 40s, acquired tickets by paying a commission of 2,000 to 3,000 New Taiwan dollars (approximately 90,000 to 140,000 won) for tickets purchased using a ticketing hacking program and identification number/name generator operated by a Hong Kong ticketing engineer. Tickets priced at 800 New Taiwan dollars (approximately 30,000 won) were sold for 9,800 New Taiwan dollars (approximately 460,000 won), while tickets priced at 8,980 New Taiwan dollars (approximately 420,000 won) were sold for at least 55,000 New Taiwan dollars (approximately 2.58 million won). He also operated a specialized staff who produced forged identification documents for ticket buyers to pass the real-name verification while staying at a hotel near the venue.
Earlier, it was reported on the 11th that about 300 scalper ticket buyers successfully entered G-Dragon's concert, leading fans to stage a mass protest to the Taipei Cultural Bureau. In response, the organizers tightened ID checks. As related authorities began investigations, incidents occurred where scalper ticket buyers were unable to enter the concert, prompting requests for refunds from the sellers.
Previously, the ticket price for the BLACKPINK world tour concert held in Taiwan in March 2023 was 8,800 New Taiwan dollars (approximately 410,000 won), but scalped tickets had been reported to be traded for as high as 40 million New Taiwan dollars (approximately 18.78 million won), a price 45 times higher. Consequently, Taiwan's Legislative Yuan passed a bill in May of the same year imposing fines up to 50 times that amount for scalping.