Man Arrested for Fraudulent Sales of EXO and BIGBANG Concert Tickets

Seoul Police arrested a 21-year-old man Kim (first name withheld) for fraud.

Kim posted on internet second-hand trading websites from the period of February 2013 to August 2015, pretending to have concert tickets for EXO and BIGBANG, although he did not actually have any. After having seen his posts, 838 people, mostly in their teens, contacted him to buy the tickets and sent him amounts ranging from 200,000 to 500,000 won (about 170-424 USD), later receiving a confirmation number. They were told that having the confirmation number will enable them to pick up the tickets. Many are said to have paid more than twice the original price of the tickets.

In total, Kim received about 208 million won (about 176,000 USD). The confirmation numbers Kim distributed turned out to be numbers taken from other posts by people who sold actual tickets, and did not work when the victims tried to pick up their tickets at the concert.

In order to stay under the radar, Kim changed his cell phone number multiple times and opened at least seven bank accounts to receive payments. When the victims complained, he said, “Refunds are impossible if you report this to the police,” and tricked others into depositing money into the accounts of complaining victims.

Kim allegedly used most of the money in sports betting and other gambling activities.

Source (1)