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posted by cmn32480 on Tuesday November 14 2017, @08:22AM   Printer-friendly
from the no-wonder-I-couldn't-get-tickets dept.

Submitted via IRC for SoyCow1984

When Adele fans went online to buy tickets to the pop superstar's world tour last year, they had no idea what exactly they were up against.

An army of tech-savvy resellers that included a little-known Canadian superscalper named Julien Lavallée managed to vacuum up thousands of tickets in a matter of minutes in one of the quickest tour sellouts in history.

The many fans who were shut out would have to pay scalpers like Lavallée a steep premium if they still wanted to see their favourite singer.

An investigation by CBC/Radio-Canada and the Toronto Star, based in part on documents found in the Paradise Papers, rips the lid off Lavallée's multimillion-dollar operation based out of Quebec and reveals how ticket website StubHub not only enables but rewards industrial-scale scalpers who gouge fans around the world.

CBC News obtained sales records from three U.K. shows that provide unprecedented insight into the speed and scale of Lavallée's ticket scam.

Despite a four-ticket-per-customer limit, his business snatched up 310 seats in 25 minutes, charged to 15 different names in 12 different locations.

The grand total? Nearly $52,000 worth of tickets at face value.

Source: http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/paradise-papers-stubhub-1.4395361


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  • (Score: 2) by Wootery on Tuesday November 14 2017, @10:31PM (4 children)

    by Wootery (2341) on Tuesday November 14 2017, @10:31PM (#597022)

    Scalpers make their money off desperate people who do not represent the average

    And yet they still sell, so the distinction is meaningless. Anyway, sjames already posted a worthwhile reply re. the economics.

    Do you even realize that your brain operates like a marketers? That you're willing to do bad things for money and then try to justify it by victim blaming?

    Nope. I dislike scalpers as much as anyone, but go ahead and project away.

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 14 2017, @11:01PM (3 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 14 2017, @11:01PM (#597042)

    Sadly it is people such as yourself that keep the whole insane ball rolling. "Corporations are required to show profits!" "If you've got nothing to hide you've got nothing to fear!" Rationalizations for inherently irrational systems is the biggest problem we have today and it prevents people from changing things up. A small nudge into cynicism and derision for your fellow humans and you could easily switch sides, mentally you're already prepared to accept it. I wasn't projecting, but I was overly accusatory.

    • (Score: 2) by Wootery on Wednesday November 15 2017, @09:36AM

      by Wootery (2341) on Wednesday November 15 2017, @09:36AM (#597229)

      "Corporations are required to show profits!" "If you've got nothing to hide you've got nothing to fear!"

      You're going to make up quotes then assign them to me? Have you heard of a 'straw-man'?

      A small nudge into cynicism and derision for your fellow humans and you could easily switch sides, mentally you're already prepared to accept it.

      Some fine armchair psychiatry, even by Internet standards.

      I should really stop replying to ACs.

    • (Score: 1) by khallow on Wednesday November 15 2017, @02:22PM (1 child)

      by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday November 15 2017, @02:22PM (#597281) Journal

      A small nudge into cynicism and derision for your fellow humans and you could easily switch sides, mentally you're already prepared to accept it. I wasn't projecting, but I was overly accusatory.

      I have to agree with Wootery. Sure sounds like you're projecting hard here. Sure, you have feelz. But you could have feelz some other way since you don't have a reason for why you have those feelz.

      • (Score: 2) by Wootery on Wednesday November 15 2017, @05:14PM

        by Wootery (2341) on Wednesday November 15 2017, @05:14PM (#597361)

        I'm coming to believe ACs have twice as much original sin in them as the rest of us.