Massive fraud uncovered in concert ticketing

Federal consumer affairs minister Kris Peeters has ordered an investigation into a case of fraud in the sale of concert tickets. The case came to light after the rapid sell-out of tickets for the Adele concerts at the end of last year, with tickets appearing for re-sale at exorbitant prices.

An internal audit was carried out by the Sportpaleis ticket agency Tele Ticket Service, which revealed that fraudsters used multiple credit cards to buy up tickets online, which they then sell on at inflated prices. For a recent concert by the Flemish trio K3, for example, two people bought 8,000 of the tickets.

The agency’s audit revealed 154 suspect cards linked to some 6,000 fake profiles. The cards were used in more than 13,000 purchases relating to 63,000 tickets, for a value of more than €3.5 million. The customers affected live in Belgium and the Netherlands. The concerts took place in the Lotto Arena and Sportpaleis in Antwerp and the Ethias Arena in Hasselt.

Tele Ticket Service tracked some of the tickets and found that concert-goers had bought them at a 67% higher price than face value on average. Tickets were doctored to remove the original sale price and the original buyer’s fake name.

“In the first place, this is a case of identity fraud, which is a crime here and in the Netherlands,” Peeters told VTM News. “I’ve given our economic inspectors the order to assess whether there is enough evidence of a crime to pass the information over to the prosecutor’s office.” His ministry is also in touch with its Dutch counterpart.

Tele Ticket Service has launched a website for anyone who thinks they may have been a victim of ticket fraud.