Asia’s booming live entertainment industry has been plagued by mounting problems of late Scalping. The term refers to the act of individuals buying live event tickets in bulk, often through the use of automation (aka bots), and reselling them at inflated prices.
This problem is not unique to Asia, as people from 2023 Bad Robot Report revealed that by 2022, 83.4% of all traffic to entertainment websites worldwide will come from automation (good and bad). Worryingly, nearly a third of entertainment website automation is classified as advanced malicious bots — highly sophisticated bots that use the latest technology to evade detection.
In this blog, we’ll cover the negative impact ticket scalping has on consumers and businesses, its history, why it’s grown in popularity recently, and how best to combat it.
Expose the impact of ticket scalping
Ticket scalping has detrimental effects on consumers, businesses and the live entertainment industry as a whole.
Business Perspective: Lost Revenue and Damaged Reputation
For businesses, scalping can result in lost revenue as genuine customers are unable to purchase items at their original price. In turn, this can damage brand reputation and customer loyalty, and fuel negative perceptions of the industry.
Consumers’ dilemma: rising prices and limited access
For consumers, scalping can lead to higher prices and limited access to desired events, creating frustration and potential distrust in the marketplace. Scalpers unfairly gain access to tickets through automation leading to inflated ticket prices, making it difficult for them to attend events they are passionate about. This leaves true fans with limited options, leading to frustration and disappointment.
Tracking the Evolution of Ticket Scalping
Ticket scalping has been around as long as tickets for live performances have been on sale, when individuals buy tickets in bulk and resell them at a higher price.
A Shift in Scalping Techniques
As technology has evolved, so has scalping techniques. Today, scalpers rely heavily on advanced robots to carry out their nefarious activities. According to the Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP), scalping is defined as “using an app to obtain a good or service in a way that ordinary users cannot do manually.”
Scalping in the digital age
Scalping has long been one of the most common bad bot problems, targeting almost any type of high-demand and low-supply commodity. From concert and sporting event tickets to coveted sneaker releases and limited edition collectibles. Scalping has grown and evolved over time, not only targeting traditional merchandise like event tickets, sneakers, and limited-edition products, but also expanding into new markets during the COVID-19 pandemic. With in-person events canceled and online deals surging, scalpers have turned their attention to commodities like face masks, sanitizers and home gym equipment. As the pandemic unfolds, the chip shortage presents new opportunities. Scalpers aggressively target the gaming hardware market, hoarding graphics cards (GPUs) and gaming consoles like the PlayStation 5, which they then resell at sky-high prices.
Demand surge and legal measures against scalping
While ticket scalping is not a new phenomenon, global demand for concert tickets has soared over the past year as COVID-19 restrictions eased, sparking increased interest from ticket scalpers.
Implications for the Live Entertainment Industry in Asia
The negative impact of ticket scalping is particularly pronounced in Asia, as it appears to be affecting the live entertainment and sports industries in several countries in the region.exist IndonesiaFor example, the concert industry has been hit hard by scalpers, leading local authorities to intervene. Tickets for Coldplay’s first concert in the country sold out in minutes, leading to complaints from fans who were unable to get tickets due to scalpers buying in bulk. Malaysian authorities announced a meeting with concert organizers to resolve the issue, Bernama reported.
Likewise, in JapanThe crackdown on scalpers led to the arrest of several people involved in the illegal trade. Taiwan Ticket scalping has also increased, with reports of rampant ticket scalping at several concerts after restrictions imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic were lifted.exist Chinanearly 300,000 tickets for six concerts by a popular Mandarin pop group sold out in five seconds, sparking suspicions of scalping activity.
Legal measures in different countries
Several countries have taken legal measures to combat ticket scalping. For example, Japan’s anti-ticket law, which came into effect in June 2019, prohibits the resale of tickets at prices higher than retail prices for commercial purposes. Violators face up to a year in prison and/or a fine of up to 1 million yen ($7,140). In Beijing, local authorities have set up a working group to tackle ticket scalping through eight measures, including managing ticket sources, implementing a real-name system for sales and limiting the number of tickets each consumer can buy for a single game.Despite legal and other legal actions, in most markets more than 40% of online flight bookings are made by automated software and are likely to be resold later at a higher price.
Adapt to the Evolving Threat of Scalping
The ever-evolving nature of the scalping trade and the use of advanced bots makes it difficult to tackle the problem without a dedicated technical solution to prevent tickets from falling into the wrong hands in the first place.
Need for a comprehensive bot management strategy
To effectively combat scalping, businesses need to adopt a comprehensive bot management strategy. This includes implementing an advanced bot management solution that accurately identifies and blocks malicious bots while allowing legitimate traffic to pass without interfering with legitimate business-critical traffic. Additionally, businesses should collaborate with industry peers and government agencies to share intelligence and best practices to combat scalping and other automated threats.
The Evolving Threat of Scalping
Like other malicious bot problems, scalping is constantly evolving and improving. Imperva Threat Research recent explore Dissect one of today’s most advanced scalping bots, which uses a variety of techniques to avoid detection. This ever-evolving threat requires businesses to adopt purpose-built, advanced bot management solutions that are as adaptable as the threat itself, to protect their interests and ensure a fair and safe marketplace for consumers.
Prevent scalping with Imperva
this lead the market Impwa Advanced Robot Protection Prevent bot operators, attackers, malicious competitors, and fraudsters from abusing, misusing, and attacking your applications. It utilizes a proprietary multi-layer detection process that combines state-of-the-art technologies, including machine learning and behavioral analysis, with human intelligence from threat researchers and bot expert analysts to protect organizations from today’s most sophisticated bot attacks. Most importantly, do this without unnecessary friction for legitimate users, keeping business-critical traffic flowing to your application.
Imperva’s Holistic Approach
Advanced Bot Protection protects all access points – websites, mobile applications and APIs – from every OWASP automated threat, including scalping. It takes a holistic approach, combining the vigilant service, technical excellence and industry expertise required to give clients total visibility and control over humans, good bots and bad bot traffic, with multiple response options for everyone. To learn more about bad bots, read Imperva Bad Robot Report 2023The 10th edition of the annual report delves into the latest bad bot statistics and trends from the past year, providing meaningful information and guidance on the nature and impact of bots.
post How Ticket Scalping Is Affecting Asia’s Live Entertainment Industry first appeared in blog.
*** This is a syndicated blog from Security Bloggers Network blog Written by Erez Hasson. Read the original text: https://www.imperva.com/blog/impact-of-ticket-scalping-impacts-on-asias-live-entertainment-industry/
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