[Anchor]

Three months ago, a man in his 30s who made a living selling scalped tickets was apprehended by the police. It was revealed that he spent nearly eight years selling premium-priced tickets—including a 110,000-won BTS concert ticket resold for 3 million won—accumulating enough wealth to purchase an apartment and two commercial spaces.

Reporter Lee Se-hyeon has the details.

[Reporter]

[I've folded up the ticket business. I've folded it.]

This is a man in his 30s, surnamed A, being arrested by police in June.

Inside his home, multiple computers, smartphones, and admission tickets were discovered.

A is accused of purchasing and reselling about 9,000 popular tickets, including idol performances, at steep markups over a period of 7 years and 7 months starting in 2018.

Having continued selling scalped tickets since graduating from college, his confirmed ticket sales alone amount to approximately 2.4 billion won.

With the money earned from ticket scalping, A purchased an apartment in Gyeonggi Province and two commercial units in this building.

The police identified and applied for a preservation of forfeiture on about 1.3 billion won in criminal proceeds, including these commercial properties and deposit bonds.

He reaped exorbitant profits of up to nearly 30 times the original price. For instance, a 2019 BTS concert ticket originally priced at 110,000 won was resold for 3 million won, and a ticket for Tottenham Hotspur's visit to Korea the year before last was bought for 400,000 won and resold for 1.65 million won.

A, who even registered as an e-commerce business operator, denied the charges, claiming, "I didn't know it was illegal and I faithfully paid my taxes." However, search records were found showing him looking up things like "how scalpers get caught by the police" and "whether it is difficult to prove charges without a search and seizure" on Gemini.

[Kim Jeong-hyun / Head of Cyber Investigation Unit 2, Gyeonggi Bukbu Provincial Police Agency: Around March, after coming across media reports about the crackdown on scalpers, he halted illegal sales. He closed his business and wiped all PCs and cell phones used in the crimes to destroy evidence.]

Various data related to the crimes were found on a USB memory drive secured by the police through a search and seizure, and his nearly eight-year crime spree was finally busted.

(Photoed by: Joo Yong-jin, Video edited by: Park Ji-in, Designed by: Yeji)