Seoul: A woman in her 30s has been referred to the prosecution for allegedly using a software program to purchase concert tickets for popular singers, including BTS, and reselling them at a markup, police said Wednesday. The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency disclosed that the woman, whose identity has been withheld, was sent to prosecutors without detention on August 21 on charges including obstruction of business and violations of information network and public performance laws.

According to Yonhap News Agency, the scalping suspect is accused of deploying a macro program to fraudulently acquire approximately 2,600 concert tickets using accounts registered under the names of family members and acquaintances between April 2023 and March this year. These tickets were then resold at inflated prices. She is specifically accused of using the same method to reserve nine tickets for BTS' Gwanghwamun concert on February 23, although she failed to resell them after being apprehended by the police.

The police uncovered her activities during an intensive monitoring of the ticket reservation process for the BTS concert in March. Authorities have also applied for the forfeiture of 442 million won (US$320,000) in proceeds from the criminal activities.

In response to such fraudulent activities, revisions to the Public Performance Act and the National Sports Promotion Act are scheduled to come into effect Friday. These revisions will impose fines of up to 50 times the sales amount on individuals engaging in fraudulent ticket sales.