Blackpink Concert Tickets at 17 Million Won... Taiwan Launches War Against Scalpers

Up to 50x Fine for Illegal Ticket Sales
Authorities May Investigate at Their Discretion Without Reports

Taiwan, which recently struggled with the ticket scalping controversy surrounding girl group BLACKPINK's world tour concert, has taken a tough stance. Authorities plan to impose fines up to 50 times the ticket price if scalping is detected in the future.

On the 7th, local media including China Times reported that Taiwan's Executive Yuan announced such measures through amendments to the 'Cultural and Creative Industry Development Act' at a plenary meeting held the previous day.

Previously, tickets for BLACKPINK's concert held in Kaohsiung on March 18-19 soared to 400,000 New Taiwan Dollars (approximately 17 million KRW). This price is 45 times the face value of 8,800 New Taiwan Dollars (about 370,000 KRW).

Scalping fraud also ran rampant. Local investigative authorities announced on the 6th of last month that they had arrested two men who defrauded more than 50 victims related to the BLACKPINK concert.

BLACKPINK [Image source=Provided by YG Entertainment]

During Super Junior's 'Super Junior World Tour - Super Show 9: Road' concert held at Taipei Arena on November 26-27 last year, scalped tickets were reportedly sold at 100,000 New Taiwan Dollars (about 4.32 million KRW), which is 17 times the face value of 5,800 New Taiwan Dollars (about 250,000 KRW).

As scalping surged every time a popular K-pop concert was held, on the 20th of last month, Su Zhe, Taiwan's Minister of Culture, stated on a Taiwanese radio program that “research has begun on eradicating scalping through legal amendments including imposing fines.”

Accordingly, the Executive Yuan announced that from now on, if caught selling scalped tickets, fines ranging from 10 to 50 times the ticket's face value will be imposed.

Additionally, if caught purchasing tickets using plugins or macro programs, offenders will face up to three years imprisonment along with a fine of 3 million New Taiwan Dollars (approximately 120 million KRW).

Wang Ssu, Deputy Minister of Taiwan's Ministry of Culture, stated, “Generally, scalping crackdowns are conducted based on reports from event organizers, but for concerts where securing tickets is difficult, the competent authorities may investigate at their discretion.”

However, he added, “At this stage, legislation related to real-name ticketing is not planned,” and “the organizers will respond by promoting real-name ticketing and establishing legitimate ticket trading platforms.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.