Hackers grabbing concert tickets ahead of real fans: CBC probe
Last Updated: Wednesday, February 27, 2008 | 7:31 PM PT
CBC News
Ticket scalpers have found a sneaky way to elbow ordinary fans out of the lineup for major sports and concert events, a CBC Marketplace investigation has found.
Mario Livich, who runs Showtime Tickets in Vancouver, said Wednesday he doesn't ask sellers where they get their tickes.
(CBC)
Hackers are using computer software to lock up front-row seats and then offer them to ticket brokers who resell the tickets at hugely inflated prices.
It may explain why tickets priced at $129 by Ticketmaster for next week's Elton John concert in Kitchener, Ont., were being sold through Showtime Tickets in Vancouver for as much as $900.
"I think that's totally unfair. That shouldn't be allowed," said a fan who lined up to buy tickets for the John concert.
The practice of reselling tickets may seem unfair, and it is also illegal in a handful of provinces, including Alberta, Manitoba and Ontario.
But it's allowed in British Columbia, and according to the CBC investigation, no one is cracking down on the software that beats ordinary fans to the front of the line.
Allan Caine, a University of Waterloo computer sciences student, showed CBC a similar program he designed to read the captcha, which makes sure a human is entering a site, on a ticket company's website.
"It makes me mad to think that all of the best seats are already taken up,'' he said.
Mario Livich, who runs Showtime Tickets in Vancouver, said he gets event tickets from a variety of sources, including promoters and season ticket holders. He has no doubt that some of his suppliers are using computer software to grab the best seats.
"Yeah, I believe that people are doing that, absolutely,'' he said.
"Is it fair? I'm not here to judge what's right or wrong. Our job is strictly to connect the buyer and the seller. If somebody comes and sells us a ticket, we don't ask them, 'how did you get that ticket?' We don't.''
Livich said he prefers to focus on the priceless memories that companies like Showtime Tickets help to create by connecting fans with the shows they want to see when they want to see them.
Ticketmaster declined to be interviewed by CBC for this story.
Last year, a U.S. judge awarded Ticketmaster a preliminary court injunction against a software company that makes programs that allegedly help scalpers cut to the front of Ticketmaster's line and snap up big blocks of tickets.
However, some consumer advocates wonder why Ticketmaster doesn't take responsibility for tightening security on its website.
"I think Ticketmaster owes it to their customers to limit that secondary monopolization of the marketplace," said Mel Fruitman, vice-president of the Consumers Association of Canada, referring to the fact that most ticket sales for major shows in the U.S. and Canada are handled by Ticketmaster.
