Home / Crime and Justice / Justice Dept. Sues Firm for Bot-Fueled Ticket Scams
Justice Dept. Sues Firm for Bot-Fueled Ticket Scams
16 Oct
Summary
- Company allegedly used bots to buy 18.5 million tickets for resale.
- Prosecutors claim over $1.3 billion was spent on tickets illegally.
- The lawsuit targets REPS & Co. for violating the BOTS Act.
Federal prosecutors have filed a lawsuit accusing REPS & Co., an entertainment company based in San Diego, of systematically using bots and other illegal technologies to purchase millions of tickets for popular events. The Justice Department alleges that the company circumvented purchase limits for at least 83,000 events, acquiring a staggering 18.5 million tickets. These tickets were reportedly bought for over $1.3 billion and then resold on various platforms at significant markups, yielding at least $120.8 million in profits.
The lawsuit details specific instances, such as the alleged purchase of 7,624 tickets for a Beyoncé concert in California, where the limit was only four to eight tickets per person. For a Pitbull concert in Syracuse, NY, REPS & Co. allegedly used 700 accounts to buy 5,430 tickets, nearly a third of the venue's capacity. These actions are cited as violations of the Better Online Ticket Sales (BOTS) Act.
Assistant U.S. Attorney General Brett A. Shumate stated that the Justice Department is committed to prosecuting entities that inflate ticket costs through illegal means. The enforcement action underscores ongoing efforts to protect consumers from unlawful ticket scalping and exorbitant resale prices, working in conjunction with the FTC.
