The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has filed a lawsuit against Key Investment Group LLC and its affiliates, accusing them of a multimillion-dollar scheme to resell thousands of tickets to live events, including Taylor Swift’s “The Eras Tour,” by bypassing Ticketmaster security measures. The FTC alleges that the Maryland-based ticket reseller used clandestine measures, including purchasing sham accounts and masking IP addresses, to get around Ticketmaster’s ticket purchasing limits. The alleged scammers then resold the tickets to fans at higher prices, resulting in $1,217,010.36 in revenue. The Better Online Ticket Sales (BOTS) Act, signed into law in 2016, prohibits efforts to circumvent control measures used by Internet ticket sellers to ensure equitable consumer access to tickets. FTC Chair Andrew N. Ferguson stated that the Trump-Vance FTC will police operations that unlawfully circumvent ticket sellers’ purchase limits, ensuring that consumers have an opportunity to buy tickets at fair prices.
The FTC has reported that a group has used fake accounts on Ticketmaster to purchase tickets.
