‘It’s daylight robbery’: Blackpink scalpers push price of K-pop concert tickets through roof in Hong Kong, Malaysia and region-wide
- Ticket nightmare for Hong Kong mother who promised tearful nine-year-old daughter and friends a night out to remember
- Police receive flood of complaints about scammers, some seeking 22 times face value of original K-pop concert ticket
Raisha Hemrajani loves South Korean girl band Blackpink so much that her ninth birthday party in August was themed around the band.
“That’s how crazy she is about them,” said her mother, Manisha Hemrajani.
So when the four-member K-pop sensation announced three concerts in Hong Kong – January 13-15 at AsiaWorld-Expo – as part of their “Born Pink” world tour, Manisha knew she had to get tickets.
“I promised all nine girls at the birthday party that I could get them,” she said of the tickets that, in Hong Kong, were priced from HK$799 to HK$2,999 (US$384), for a VIP package. She needed 14 because some other mums planned to join.
Then her nightmare began. First, she tried a South Korean-operated fan app that was supposed to give her priority access. It didn’t. Attempts to buy tickets via the official Live Nation Entertainment and Cityline platforms also failed.
“On the Cityline site a message said I had secured tickets but then I was left hanging before being told the transaction didn’t go through,” she said, adding that they have been unreachable over the phone or email.
Tickets had sold out in just two hours. The days Manisha had spent trying to buy tickets for her daughter and fellow “Blinks” – the official name for fans of the band - had been wasted.
“My daughter is in tears and I’m going crazy,” said the single mother who runs her own custom clothing company. “I work really hard and even took the day off work to buy the tickets.”
Desperate, Manisha turned to online re-sellers. “They wanted HK$6,500 (US$830) for one HK$1,899 category ticket - it’s daylight robbery. I’m fuming.”
Scalpers inevitably emerge at times like these, turning fans’ dreams of seeing their idols into a financial nightmare.
Last week, reports surfaced that scalpers were selling Blackpink tickets for HK$15,000 - 22 times their original price.
Media reports also said that second-hand ticket reseller StubHub was selling them for between HK$3,338 and HK$116,827 (US$15,000) while Viagogo prices have been scalped up to HK$102,222 for a ticket to the January 15 show.
Blackpink ticket scalpers have also been busy in the region with reports of inflated prices being touted in Malaysia and Singapore.
In Taiwan, four tickets, originally priced at US$276 each, were reselling for as much as US$12,576 - more than 45 times their original price, Taiwan News reported. In response, Live Nation Taiwan, the group’s world tour organiser there, cancelled the tickets in question.
It’s also a boom time for scammers. Last week, two female Blackpink fans in Hong Kong lost HK$17,000 (US$2,200) to an online con.
Hong Kong Police have urged fans only to buy tickets through official channels. “In just a week, police have received 25 reports of online shopping fraud related to [Blackpink] concert tickets,” it said on its anti-scam Facebook page, CyberDefender.
Earlier this year, Hong Kong superband Mirror urged fans to “say no to scalpers” when tickets that were originally priced at HK$1,280, HK$880 and HK$480 were reselling for up to HK$440,000 (US$56,000).
Scalping is illegal in Hong Kong. Those caught selling or offering for sale fixed-price tickets at licensed venues face a HK$2,000 penalty.
Manisha said she’s clinging onto hope that her daughter will get to see her favourite band live. “She’s even got her Blackpink outfit and [merchandise] torch ready.”
