South Korea’s New Anti-Scalping Rules Put Ticket Resellers on Notice

Buying a high-demand concert ticket in South Korea now comes with a much tougher set of rules for anyone looking to turn that ticket into a business.

New anti-scalping measures took effect August 28 under revisions to South Korea’s Public Performance Act and National Sports Promotion Act, expanding the country’s crackdown on fraudulent ticket buying and unauthorized resale.

One of the biggest changes closes a major limitation in the previous system. Enforcement is no longer centered only on tickets obtained through automated macro software. Fraudulent purchases made for resale and habitual or commercial unauthorized sales above the original purchase price can now be targeted regardless of whether macros were involved.

The financial consequences can be substantial. Illegal resellers can face administrative penalties ranging from two to 50 times the resale amount depending on the scale and value of their activity, while proceeds generated through illegal purchasing and resale can also be confiscated. Criminal penalties remain available for violations covered by the amended laws.

Fans are being brought into the enforcement system as well. South Korea operates an online ticket-scalping reporting center, and people who report qualifying illegal resale activity can receive rewards tied to the resulting penalty. Ticket sellers and online resale platforms are also required to take preventative measures, including identity verification, reporting systems and restrictions on suspected illegal listings.

The changes arrive as Korean authorities continue pursuing large-scale ticket resellers. Earlier this week, Seoul police referred a woman in her 30s to prosecutors after accusing her of using macro software and accounts belonging to family members and acquaintances to purchase roughly 2,600 concert tickets between April 2023 and March 2026.

Police said the tickets involved concerts by popular artists and included nine tickets obtained for BTS’s February Gwanghwamun concert. Authorities are seeking to preserve approximately 442 million won in alleged criminal proceeds connected to the case.

For K-pop fans, the significance of the new rules goes beyond a larger penalty attached to scalping. Korea is putting more responsibility on sellers, platforms, enforcement agencies and buyers themselves while widening the types of resale activity authorities can pursue.

Whether that translates into noticeably easier access when the next major ticket queue opens will depend on enforcement. But as of August 28, Korea has considerably more tools available to go after the secondary ticket market than it did before.