Federal authorities have brought their first-ever case under a 2016 anti-bot law to tackle ticket sales. Three New York-based ticket brokers were ordered to pay $ 3.7 million in fines after allegedly making millions of dollars through bot-powered ticket sales schemes, the Federal Trade Commission announced on Friday.
The Companies – Cartisim Corp., owned by Simon Ebrani; Just In Time Tickets, owned by Evan Kohanian; and Concert Specials, owned by Steven Ebrani, are accused of collecting more than 150,000 tickets from Ticketmaster to resell them at a premium. In total, the three made a whopping $ 26.1 million in estimated revenue, according to the complaints. The FTC says they have reportedly used automated ticket purchasing software, tools to hide their IP addresses, and an army of hundreds of fake accounts and credit cards, among other methods to bypass Ticketmaster’s purchase limits and protections designed to prevent detect human visitors.
FTC regulators added that these are the agency’s first enforcement actions brought under the Better Online Ticket Sales (BOTS) Act, an anti-bot law passed in 2016 that prohibits ticket scalpers from using automated means to buy tickets in bulk and bypass purchase limits.
“These ticket brokers used bots and other technical tricks to get thousands of tickets to popular events as soon as they went on sale,” Andrew Smith, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, said in Friday’s announcement. “This not only deprives loyal fans of the opportunity to see their favorite artists and shows, it also violates the law.”
The three ticket brokers originally faced more than $ 31 million in civil fines for violations of the BOTS Act under a proposed settlement with the FTC. But federal regulators agreed to suspend most of these fines because the companies were unable to pay – as long as they adhere to certain conditions. In the future, the defendants could be hooked for the full amount if it is found that they have either violated the BOTS Act again, disfigured their financial records to qualify for the suspended settlement amount, or authorities fail to routinely update to date. records and compliance reports. Once a judge approves these news terms and conditions, Concert Specials will pay about $ 1.56 million, Just in Time tickets about $ 1.64 million, and Cartisim Corp a little less than $ 500,000 to the US Treasury.
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So what events did these scalpers actually go to? The FTC’s complaints don’t go into detail, except that their alleged targets include various sporting events and musical performances, including Elton John concerts. So if it’s priced for you to see the “Rocket Man” live, I think now you know who to blame.