Ticketmaster Has Been Screwing You Over By Working With Scalpers

Undercover journalists from CBC News and the Toronto Star posed as scalpers at a live entertainment convention this summer and they say Ticketmaster tried to involve  them in their alleged fraudulent scheme.

Here's how it works...again, ALLEGEDLY: The scalpers buy tickets with bots supplied by Ticketmaster...then they resell them for more money at TradeDesk.com, which is OWNED by Ticketmaster.

So Ticketmaster makes money off the same ticket TWICE. Ticketmaster does have a "buyer abuse" division that tries to head off scalping. But a company rep at the convention told the journalists that they turn a blind eye to abuses by TradeDesk users.

Rollingstone.com says Ticketmaster has sued groups in the past for using bots to grab up live events tickets from its site, which prompted counterclaims that Ticketmaster was itself supplying scalpers with bot software — which, per this week’s investigation, TradeDesk appears to be doing. “This is going to be a public relations nightmare,” a popular Canadian radio program host told CBC upon seeing the findings, noting of previous “whispers of this in the ticket-selling community, but it’s never been outlined quite like this before.”

Ticketmaster's response to the report: "As the world's leading ticket platform, representing thousands of teams, artists and venues, we believe it is our job to offer a marketplace that provides a safe and fair place for fans to shop, buy and sell tickets in both the primary and secondary markets.

Ticketmaster late Friday felt the need to further comment and "categorically deny" all charges.

More here and here.