Ministry of Culture, Police Agency, and Ticketing Platforms Strengthen Public-Private Cooperation to Eradicate Macro-Based Ticket Scalping
by Park Pyunghee
Published 12 May.2026 12:34(KST)
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the National Office of Investigation of the Korean National Police Agency will hold a "Briefing Session on Analyzing and Preventing the Mechanisms of Macro-based Fraudulent Ticket Reservations" on May 13, together with ticketing platforms NolUniverse and NHN Link, to strengthen their capabilities in analyzing and investigating fraudulent ticket purchases using macros.
The briefing will cover topics highly useful for investigations, such as the operating principles of macro programs, the macro detection, blocking, and defense logic systems run by ticketing platforms, and log analysis.
In particular, NolUniverse and NHN Link will share their accumulated know-how in responding to macros with investigative agencies. Investigators will be able to directly learn technical indicators and response methods necessary to identify macros in the field. NolUniverse and NHN Link have been working to preemptively block suspected macro transactions through their own abnormal transaction detection systems and to maintain an environment where regular users can make reservations without issue.
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the National Police Agency, and ticketing platforms have established a "Public-Private Council for Preventing Ticket Scalping in Performances and Sports" to step up internal monitoring, investigations, and crackdowns. This briefing session is also an extension of such collaboration and aims to further professionalize the technical identification capabilities of frontline investigators.
The National Police Agency has recently noted that macro-based ticket scalping crimes are evolving from simple transactions between individuals into organized criminal activities, with program development, account collection, proxy reservations, and ticket scalping each assigned to different roles. As a result, investigations are now expanding to include not only those who produce and distribute macro programs, but also account collectors and professional macro-based ticket scalpers.
Park Woo-hyun, Cyber Investigation Policy Officer (Superintendent General) at the National Police Agency, stated, "Fraudulent ticket transactions using macros are clearly crimes that deprive citizens of their fair opportunity to purchase tickets," and added, "We will continue to expand cooperation with ticketing platforms and related organizations to further tighten the investigative net against macro offenders."
A policy official from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism commented, "When the amended 'Performances Act' and 'National Sports Promotion Act' take effect on August 28, all forms of fraudulent ticket transactions, including those using macros, will be prohibited." The official went on to say, "We also plan to introduce a penalty system imposing fines of up to 50 times the sale amount, as well as a reward system for reporting fraudulent transactions." The official added, "The ministry will continue to work closely with related organizations, centering on the public-private council, to eradicate ticket scalping. We ask for the public's continued vigilance and active reporting of such crimes."