Ticket fraud expert claims the industry has 'lost all ability to deliver tickets at face value'

Key Concepts

• Face Value Ticket Sales: The original price of a ticket as set by the event organizer.
• Touting: The illegal resale of tickets at inflated prices.
• Organized Crime Groups: Sophisticated criminal networks involved in touting.
• Unauthorized Resale Platforms: Websites that facilitate the resale of tickets above face value.
• Legislation and Enforcement: The need for stronger laws and their effective implementation to combat touting.
• Top-Level Domain (TLD) Registrars: Organizations that manage domain names.

The Crisis in UK Ticketing: Loss of Face Value Sales

The UK ticketing industry has, over the past 12 months, lost its ability to deliver tickets to the public at face value. This is attributed to the highly sophisticated and large-scale attacks on ticketing systems. These attacks are not solely from domestic touts but also from international touts and organized crime groups. The current situation is so severe that selling tickets to genuine fans at face value has become unachievable.

Financial Impact and Scale of Criminality

• Ticket Price Inflation: Cheaper tickets in larger arenas, originally priced around £70, are being resold for five, six, seven, and sometimes up to ten times their face value, depending on the artist.
• Extreme Examples: In the football sector, £87 face value tickets have been sold to Japanese sports tourists for between £2,000 and £2,200 each.
• Criminal Revenue: The illicit revenue generated by this criminality is estimated to be in the hundreds of millions of pounds.
• Victims: The sole sufferers of this criminal activity are genuine music and sports fans.

Professionalism and Scale of Organized Crime

The nature of touting has evolved significantly from individuals loitering near venues to international crime syndicates. These organized crime groups have been involved for years, with evidence supporting their activities. While there have been some convictions overseas and a few in the UK, the problem persists. Chris Allison, former Assistant Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police for the London 2012 Olympics, identified this as a facet of organized crime in 2012, and the situation has not improved.

Industry Efforts and Legislative Gaps

Ticketing companies, businesses, venues, event organizers, promoters, and sports teams are continuously developing new methods to thwart these attacks. These include:

• Data Scrubbing: Techniques to clean and verify data.
• Facial ID: Biometric identification systems.
• ID Verification: Processes to confirm the identity of ticket purchasers.

However, these groups employ sophisticated technology, similar to that used to defraud banks. The speaker argues that the primary issue is the lack of enforcement of existing legislation and a comprehensive ban on this type of activity.

Proposed Solutions and Government Action

The speaker, acting as an emissary for artists like Radiohead, Coldplay, and Ed Sheeran, proposes the following actions to the government:

1. Ban on Above Face Value Resale:

   • Mechanism: Impose a £20,000 fine for listing a ticket above face value on any website.
   • Precedent: This mirrors the successful approach taken during the 2012 Olympics.

2. Super-National Legislation:

   • Objective: Prevent websites from being set up in countries like Spain, Cyprus, or Malta to target the UK market.
   • Enforcement: Implement provisions to jail directors of websites that persistently break the law.

3. Mechanism with Top-Level Domain (TLD) Registrars:

   • Action: Work with TLD registrars to suspend domain registrations.
   • Impact: This would allow for the immediate takedown of rogue websites operating overseas.

Role of Law Enforcement Agencies

In the interim period before new legislation is enacted, the speaker suggests that the National Crime Agency (NCA) and the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) should investigate the relationship between unauthorized resale platforms and the touts who are criminally attacking ticketing systems.

Conclusion

The UK ticketing industry is facing a crisis where genuine fans are consistently priced out of events due to sophisticated criminal operations. While the industry is implementing various technological measures, the core problem lies in the lack of robust legislation and enforcement. The proposed solutions focus on a ban on above face value resale, international legislative cooperation, and direct action against rogue online platforms, aiming to restore face value ticket sales for the public.