The Northern Gyeonggi Provincial Police Agency announced on the 11th that they have arrested 16 members of a scalping organization that used macro programs to acquire a large number of concert tickets for popular K-pop events. The group is accused of making approximately 7.1 billion won by reselling these tickets at exorbitant prices, sometimes as high as 25 times the original price. Between October 2022 and January 2023, the organization operated through a social media group with over 1,300 members, sharing information on ticket pricing, purchasing methods, and police monitoring strategies to facilitate their actions.

Investigations revealed that the mastermind behind the group, a 28-year-old identified as 'G', opened and managed the group, while accomplices 'B' (31) and 'C' (35) were involved in developing macros and managing ticket sales, respectively. Most of the principal suspects had backgrounds in the IT industry and utilized advanced methods to bypass ticket purchasing policies on major platforms, including pre-selecting seats before sales began and using macros that allowed them to reach the payment stage almost instantly.

The tickets they amassed were sold on social media and ticket trading websites, either to individual buyers or to large overseas scalpers. Popular concerts saw tickets being sold at prices averaging three to four times the original cost, with some premium tickets, originally priced at 200,000 won, being resold for as much as 5 million won. A notable example involved a 220,000 won ticket for a G-Dragon concert selling at a significantly inflated price, highlighting the scale and impact of this scalping operation.