CBC Unearths An Alleged Secret Scalper Program From Ticketmaster

In a recent article with CBC, a reporter went undercover at Ticket Summit 2018 in Las Vegas and found something that no concert lover is ready to hear.

While undercover, a reporter talked to a sales representative from Ticketmaster and was “recruited” into their professional reseller program. Ticketmaster representatives mentioned to the scalpers that some current scalpers have created hundreds of fake accounts without getting into trouble with the company. Said the representative:

“I have brokers that have literally a couple of hundred accounts … It’s not something that we look at or report.”

Ticketmaster launched TradeDesk which is “a web-based inventory management system for scalpers” according to CBC. However, you can only access this site if you applied for a registration request and get approved from Trade Desk itself.

Multiple times, Ticketmaster workers mentioned to the undercover journalist that they would not get in trouble by creating fake accounts to buy tickets exceeding the normal maximum ticket limit. They even went so far as to say that Ticketmaster’s own buyer abuse division wouldn’t be able to flag the scalpers because the two groups don’t share information.”We don’t share reports, we don’t share names, we don’t share account information with the primary site. Period,” said a ticket master representative to an undercover reporter for the CBC.

Ticketmaster has issued a statement to CBC saying “It is categorically untrue that Ticketmaster has any program in place to enable resellers to acquire large volumes of tickets at the expense of consumers.” “Ticketmaster’s seller code of conduct specifically prohibits resellers from purchasing tickets that exceed the posted ticket limit for an event.”

The statement does not match up to what the undercover reporter dug up. So what is the truth? All we know is that scalpers are actually making a living off of this website, selling millions of excessively priced tickets.

So, what are some ways to avoid being scalped?

• Buy your tickets on presale
• Buy your tickets on time
• Buy your ticket at the box office
• Do not buy tickets from strangers, or unverified sources

Photo: Tingting Wu

What is your take on the Ticketmaster situation? Let us know in the comments below!