I shared my views with CNA [https://lnkd.in/gFkkczDw] and The Straits Times [https://lnkd.in/gWppuv_E] on ticket scalping, scams, and legislation. Some further thoughts below.

---

On scalping.

I think we can all agree that ticket scalping instinctively feels unfair. However, this is not an easy problem to solve. Many methods of legislating against ticket scalping suffer from significant downsides.

For example, if the law prohibits any and all resale of tickets, that might be overly restrictive. If I buy a concert ticket but cannot attend due to an emergency, why shouldn’t I be allowed to resell it to recoup my expense? Reselling the ticket also allows another person to enjoy the event. It would also be difficult to enforce such a law – is it a good use of police resources for officers to prowl for street sellers in areas surrounding concert venues?

Neither would a law targeting ticketing bots be a perfect solution. The time and resources needed to track down the bot operators may be prohibitively expensive and impractical. Worse, if investigations reveal that bot operators are based overseas, it would be even more difficult to arrest and prosecute them. Consider also its effectiveness in the US - although the BOTS Act was enacted in 2016, there has only been one high-profile enforcement action to date. Finally, the use of ticketing bots may fall afoul of existing legislation such as the Computer Misuse Act 1993 – if so, it may be unnecessary to pass legislation specifically targeting ticketing bots.

That being said, the approach recommended by the UK’s Competition & Markets Authority (“CMA”) is promising. They have proposed passing laws targeting platforms that allow resellers to list tickets for sale. The CMA has recommended that platforms prohibit sellers from listing more than the number of tickets they are legally allowed to obtain, and that platforms be strictly liable for incorrect information about tickets listed on their websites. This approach would aim to take away the marketplace for the resale of illegally scalped tickets, which may be a more appropriate middle ground between banning ticket resales altogether versus having no restrictions whatsoever.

---

On scams.

If you have been the victim of a ticket scam, 3 take-aways:

1) Don’t expect to get a cent back. Highly unsatisfactory, but that's the unfortunate reality.

2) Make a police report, regardless of the amount involved. If the seller is a habitual scammer and there are multiple reports by different victims against the same seller, the police would be more likely to take action. But as to whether police action would lead to you recovering anything – see (1) above.

3) Treat it as an expensive lesson. If the deal looks too good to be true, it probably is.