Scalping ring busted in Taiwan for illegal resale of G-DRAGON's concert tickets worth nearly ₩900 million(~650,000 USD)

A group of ticket scalpers who illegally purchased large quantities of tickets for G-DRAGON’s concert in Taiwan and resold them at high prices—earning nearly ₩900 million (approx. $650,000 USD)—has been apprehended by local authorities.

According to Taiwanese media outlets, including China Times and Liberty Times, on July 23rd KST, Taiwan’s Criminal Investigation Bureau under the Ministry of the Interior arrested four scalpers, including a suspect surnamed Liu, on charges of illegal ticket sales for the world tour concert held at Taipei Arena from July 11th to 13th.

Authorities reported that after receiving intelligence about the suspects, they raided the group’s base of operations on July 15th in coordination with local police.

During the raid, police confiscated over 1,500 ticket exchange serial numbers, more than 1,000 physical G-DRAGON concert tickets, 500 tickets for the BLACKPINK concert scheduled for October in Kaohsiung, and NT$164,000 in cash (approximately ₩7.7 million or $5,600 USD).

Liu allegedly collaborated with a ticketing engineer based in Hong Kong, who utilized hacking software and ID-generating programs to bulk purchase tickets. These were then resold to Liu with a service fee of NT$2,000–3,000 (₩90,000–140,000) per ticket, on top of face value.

A G-DRAGON ticket originally priced at NT$800 (₩37,000) was resold for as much as NT$9,800 (₩460,000), while tickets originally costing NT$8,980 (₩420,000) were reportedly resold for up to NT$55,000 (₩2.58 million).

The group allegedly operated from a hotel near the venue, producing fake IDs required for entry and employing staff to escort buyers through the ID checks.

Following reports that nearly 300 buyers using scalped tickets successfully entered the G-DRAGON concert on July 11th, outraged fans filed mass complaints with the Taipei City Department of Cultural Affairs. In response, the concert organizer asserted that strict ID checks were conducted and local authorities launched an investigation.

Some audience members who had purchased scalped tickets were denied entry and are now demanding refunds from the scalpers. Taiwanese media have pointed out that this incident effectively undermines the country’s real-name ticketing system for cultural events.

A similar scandal occurred in March 2023, when BLACKPINK’s world tour tickets in Taiwan—originally sold at NT$8,800 (₩410,000)—were scalped for as high as NT$400,000 (₩18.78 million), roughly 45 times the face value.

In response to the growing scalping problem, Taiwan revised its Cultural and Creative Industries Development Act in 2023, stipulating that scalpers caught reselling tickets may face fines of up to 50 times the sale amount.