Police have opened a pre-arrest inquiry into scalpers who resold tickets to professional baseball postseason games online at marked-up prices. Under a revised sports promotion law that took effect in August, habitual ticket scalping can be punished even when no macro program was used.
The Korean National Police Agency said on the 20th that it had received a request from the Korea Sports Promotion Foundation to investigate suspected illegal resales of professional baseball postseason tickets and was questioning those involved. Cyber investigation units at provincial police agencies will lead the review of scalping activity on secondhand trading platforms and other channels.
Police plan to determine whether macro programs or accounts registered under other people's names were used to buy the tickets. They will also examine whether additional offenses, such as obstruction of business, were committed. Investigators will weigh the scale and methods of the alleged crimes, along with the risk of flight or destruction of evidence, in deciding whether to seek arrest warrants. Proceeds from the ticket sales will be recovered through pre-indictment confiscation and preservation measures.
Under the revised National Sports Promotion Act, which took effect on Aug. 28, scalping without the use of macro programs can also be punished. Reselling tickets above the purchase price on a habitual or commercial basis without the seller's consent is punishable regardless of whether a macro program was used. Police urged the public to be aware of the law as they step up enforcement against online scalping.
Police have previously arrested a series of professional scalpers who used macro programs and others' accounts to amass large volumes of tickets. The Gyeonggi North Provincial Police Agency in June arrested a scalper who had resold 2.4 billion won ($1.7 million) worth of concert and other event tickets over about eight years. The Ulsan Police Agency in August arrested a scalper who had resold 800 million won ($560,000) worth of performance tickets over about 11 months.
Police took pre-indictment preservation measures covering about 1.2 billion won in the first case and 400 million won in the second. For the latest baseball postseason case, police said they would identify the methods used and the scale of criminal proceeds and respond firmly.