Latest news with #BetterOnlineTicketSalesAct
Los Angeles Times
20 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
FTC alleges group fraudulently flipped Taylor Swift seats on Ticketmaster
The Federal Trade Commission accused a shadowy group of flooding Ticketmaster with fake accounts to purchase and resell tickets to concerts by Taylor Swift, Bruce Springsteen and other top artists. The FTC alleged that between Nov. 1, 2022, and Dec. 30, 2023, a core group of three individuals used a network of sites such as Totaltickets, TotallyTix and Front Rose Tix to purchase at least 379,776 tickets from Ticketmaster, spending nearly $57 million. The complaint states they then resold those tickets on secondary marketplaces for nearly $64 million. The trio allegedly used software to mask IP addresses, purloined credit cards and SIM cards to create fake Ticketmaster accounts. They also enlisted friends and family to create Ticketmaster Verified Fan accounts, giving small sign-up bonuses and kickbacks for creating new accounts. The FTC alleges that the group made $1.2 million from flipping tickets to Taylor Swift's record-breaking Eras Tour in 2023 alone. According to the complaint, at a Las Vegas Taylor Swift concert, 'Defendants used 49 different accounts to purchase 273 tickets to Taylor Swift's March 25, 2023, concert at Allegiant Stadium, dramatically exceeding The Eras Tour's 2023 six-ticket limit. Defendants then marked up and resold these tickets, netting $119,227.21 in revenue.' For one Bruce Springsteen show at MetLife Stadium on Sept. 1, 2023, 'Defendants used 277 different accounts to purchase 1,530 tickets, dramatically exceeding Springsteen and the E Street Band's four-ticket limit. Defendants marked up and resold these tickets, netting $20,900.84 in revenue.' The FTC alleges their actions are a violation of the Better Online Ticket Sales Act. Representatives for Live Nation did not immediately return a request for comment. While Ticketmaster is not accused of any wrongdoing in the complaint, Swift famously lambasted Ticketmaster after the Eras Tour on-sale fiasco in which many fans were locked out of opportunities to buy tickets and saw seats instantly snapped up and placed on resale markets at many times the face value. 'There are a multitude of reasons why people had such a hard time trying to get tickets and I'm trying to figure out how this situation can be improved moving forward,' she wrote in a 2022 social media post. 'I'm not going to make excuses for anyone because we asked them multiple times if they could handle this kind of demand and we were assured they could.' 'It really pisses me off that a lot of [fans] feel like they went through several bear attacks to get them,' Swift added. The incident prompted rowdy hearings in Congress and a federal antitrust lawsuit against Ticketmaster and parent firm Live Nation. Although Ticketmaster is not targeted in the complaint, the FTC does include a slide that it says is from a 2018 presentation deck, where Ticketmaster warns of 'Serious negative economic impact if we move to 8 ticket limit across the board.' In March, President Trump issued an executive order to combat fraudulent ticket reselling practices.
a day ago
- Business
FTC sues ticket reseller, saying it illegally exceeded purchase limits for Taylor Swift, other shows
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission filed a lawsuit Monday against a ticket broker, alleging the company used illegal tactics to exceed purchasing limits for popular events and then resold tickets at significantly higher prices. In a lawsuit filed in federal court in Maryland, the FTC said Maryland-based ticket broker Key Investment Group has used thousands of fictitious Ticketmaster accounts and other methods to buy tickets for events, including Taylor Swift's Eras Tour. According to the FTC, Key Investment Group – which does business under brand names like Epic Seats and Totally Tix – purchased at least 379,776 tickets from Ticketmaster between Nov. 1, 2022, and Dec. 30, 2023. The company spent nearly $57 million to buy the tickets and resold them on secondary marketplaces for approximately $64 million. For just one Taylor Swift concert, Key Investment Group allegedly used 49 different accounts to purchase 273 tickets, dramatically exceeding the Eras Tour's 2023 six-ticket purchase limit per event, the FTC said. Fans were so frustrated by the difficulty getting tickets for Swift's tour that the U.S. Senate wound up grilling Ticketmaster in a 2023 hearing. In a statement released Monday, Key Investment Group said it will vigorously defend itself against the FTC's lawsuit. 'The case threatens to dismantle the secondary ticket market for live events, further consolidating power in the hands of the industry's largest monopoly,' the company said. Key Investment Group said the FTC is misapplying the Better Online Ticket Sales Act, a 2016 law which it said was meant to target malicious software, not legitimate resale businesses. Key Investment Group sued the FTC in July to try to prevent the agency from using the law against it, saying it uses human employees — not bots — to buy tickets. But the FTC said that law also prohibits anyone from circumventing security measures and other controls meant to enforce posted ticket limits. In March, with Kid Rock by his side in the Oval Office, President Donald Trump signed an executive order directing U.S. officials to ensure ticket resellers are complying with Internal Revenue Service rules. The order also directed the FTC to ensure 'price transparency at all stages of the ticket-purchase process' and to 'take enforcement action to prevent unfair, deceptive, and anti-competitive conduct in the secondary ticketing market."
The Hill
2 days ago
- Business
- The Hill
FTC sues ticket reseller, saying it illegally exceeded purchase limits for Taylor Swift, other shows
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission filed a lawsuit Monday against a ticket broker, alleging the company used illegal tactics to exceed purchasing limits for popular events and then resold tickets at significantly higher prices. In a lawsuit filed in federal court in Maryland, the FTC said Maryland-based ticket broker Key Investment Group has used thousands of fictitious Ticketmaster accounts and other methods to buy tickets for events, including Taylor Swift's Eras Tour. According to the FTC, Key Investment Group – which does business under brand names like Epic Seats and Totally Tix – purchased at least 379,776 tickets from Ticketmaster between Nov. 1, 2022, and Dec. 30, 2023. The company spent nearly $57 million to buy the tickets and resold them on secondary marketplaces for approximately $64 million. For just one Taylor Swift concert, Key Investment Group allegedly used 49 different accounts to purchase 273 tickets, dramatically exceeding the Eras Tour's 2023 six-ticket purchase limit per event, the FTC said. Fans were so frustrated by the difficulty getting tickets for Swift's tour that the U.S. Senate wound up grilling Ticketmaster in a 2023 hearing. In a statement released Monday, Key Investment Group said it will vigorously defend itself against the FTC's lawsuit. 'The case threatens to dismantle the secondary ticket market for live events, further consolidating power in the hands of the industry's largest monopoly,' the company said. Key Investment Group said the FTC is misapplying the Better Online Ticket Sales Act, a 2016 law which it said was meant to target malicious software, not legitimate resale businesses. Key Investment Group sued the FTC in July to try to prevent the agency from using the law against it, saying it uses human employees — not bots — to buy tickets. But the FTC said that law also prohibits anyone from circumventing security measures and other controls meant to enforce posted ticket limits. In March, with Kid Rock by his side in the Oval Office, President Donald Trump signed an executive order directing U.S. officials to ensure ticket resellers are complying with Internal Revenue Service rules. The order also directed the FTC to ensure 'price transparency at all stages of the ticket-purchase process' and to 'take enforcement action to prevent unfair, deceptive, and anti-competitive conduct in the secondary ticketing market.'
Winnipeg Free Press
2 days ago
- Business
- Winnipeg Free Press
FTC sues ticket reseller, saying it illegally exceeded purchase limits for Taylor Swift, other shows
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission filed a lawsuit Monday against a ticket broker, alleging the company used illegal tactics to exceed purchasing limits for popular events and then resold tickets at significantly higher prices. In a lawsuit filed in federal court in Maryland, the FTC said Maryland-based ticket broker Key Investment Group has used thousands of fictitious Ticketmaster accounts and other methods to buy tickets for events, including Taylor Swift's Eras Tour. According to the FTC, Key Investment Group – which does business under brand names like Epic Seats and Totally Tix – purchased at least 379,776 tickets from Ticketmaster between Nov. 1, 2022, and Dec. 30, 2023. The company spent nearly $57 million to buy the tickets and resold them on secondary marketplaces for approximately $64 million. For just one Taylor Swift concert, Key Investment Group allegedly used 49 different accounts to purchase 273 tickets, dramatically exceeding the Eras Tour's 2023 six-ticket purchase limit per event, the FTC said. Fans were so frustrated by the difficulty getting tickets for Swift's tour that the U.S. Senate wound up grilling Ticketmaster in a 2023 hearing. In a statement released Monday, Key Investment Group said it will vigorously defend itself against the FTC's lawsuit. 'The case threatens to dismantle the secondary ticket market for live events, further consolidating power in the hands of the industry's largest monopoly,' the company said. Key Investment Group said the FTC is misapplying the Better Online Ticket Sales Act, a 2016 law which it said was meant to target malicious software, not legitimate resale businesses. Key Investment Group sued the FTC in July to try to prevent the agency from using the law against it, saying it uses human employees — not bots — to buy tickets. But the FTC said that law also prohibits anyone from circumventing security measures and other controls meant to enforce posted ticket limits. In March, with Kid Rock by his side in the Oval Office, President Donald Trump signed an executive order directing U.S. officials to ensure ticket resellers are complying with Internal Revenue Service rules. The order also directed the FTC to ensure 'price transparency at all stages of the ticket-purchase process' and to 'take enforcement action to prevent unfair, deceptive, and anti-competitive conduct in the secondary ticketing market.'
Hindustan Times
2 days ago
- Business
- Hindustan Times
US FTC sues ticket reseller for evading Taylor Swift's Eras tour ticket limits
By Jody Godoy US FTC sues ticket reseller for evading Taylor Swift's Eras tour ticket limits -The U.S. Federal Trade Commission sued ticket reseller Key Investment Group for evading purchasing limits to buy up thousands of tickets to live events including Taylor Swift's Eras tour and resell them at a markup, according to a complaint filed in Maryland federal court on Monday. The Baltimore, Maryland-based company, which operates ticket resale sites including used thousands of Ticketmaster accounts, including fake or purchased accounts, the FTC said. Ticketmaster faced intense criticism after its botched 2022 sale of tickets to Swift's much-hyped Eras tour, when billions of requests from Swift fans, bots and ticket resellers overwhelmed its website and the company canceled a planned ticket sale to the general public. For one Swift concert in Las Vegas in March 2023, Key Investment Group and its affiliates used 49 different accounts to purchase 273 tickets and evade a 6-ticket purchase limit, netting more than $119,000 in revenue on resales, the FTC said on Monday. The company made more than $1.2 million reselling 2,280 Swift concert tickets it purchased in 2023, the agency said. FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson said in a statement that the lawsuit puts ticket sellers on notice that the agency will go after those who circumvent ticketing platforms' limits on ticket sales. The lawsuit is part of a crackdown President Donald Trump announced in March focused on curbing exploitative ticket reselling practices that raise costs for fans. A Key Investment Group spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday. The company sued the FTC in July to block its investigation, saying that its ticket purchases did not use automated software, or bots, and did not violate the Better Online Ticket Sales Act. The FTC has made it clear that "they intend to use the BOTS Act to shut down the entire secondary-ticket market," the company said in its lawsuit. The agency on Monday accused Key Investment Group and three of its executives of violating the BOTS Act as well as the FTC Act, which prohibits unfair and deceptive business practices. Ticketmaster and its parent company, Live Nation Entertainment, are facing a lawsuit brought by U.S. antitrust enforcers accusing the company of monopolizing markets across the live concert industry. This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
