Ticket scalper arrested in South Korea over $1.7 million in resales

A man has been arrested in South Korea over allegations that he resold 8,967 tickets to concerts, performances and sporting events at inflated prices between September 2018 and April 2026, The Korea Times reported.

According to the Gyeonggi Bukbu Provincial Police Agency, the scalper faces charges of obstruction of business. Police said the ticket sales totaled around 2.4 billion won ($1.73 million). He used the proceeds to acquire one apartment and two commercial properties. Authorities froze the two commercial properties and financial assets held in his name, preventing him from disposing of them pending a potential forfeiture.

One of the tickets was for a 2019 BTS concert. The suspect bought it for 110,000 won and resold it for 3 million won.

The suspect reportedly denied the allegations, telling police he was unaware that ticket scalping was illegal, had paid his taxes and had not harmed anyone.

South Korea has strengthened its crackdown on ticket scalping. Amendments to the Public Performance Act and National Sports Promotion Act were passed in February, with revised rules taking effect on Aug. 28. The new rules prohibit the illegal purchase and resale of tickets regardless of whether automated software was used, with violators facing fines of up to 50 times the ticket sale price.

Notably, South Korean media reported in September that BTS’s Arirang world tour generated the most ticket-scalping reports recorded by the Korea Creative Content Agency (KOCCA) over the previous year, with 102 reports filed between September 2025 and Aug. 27. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, meanwhile, identified 1,868 online posts suspected of illegal ticket sales for the BTS shows, more than 18 times the number of reports.