The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is suing Key Investment Group, a ticket broker also doing business as Epic Seats and others, for allegedly using “illegal means” to buy up hundreds of thousands of live event tickets, including those for Taylor Swift’s Eras tour. The FTC claims the company violated the Better Online Ticket Sales (BOTS) Act by using virtual credit card numbers, spoofed IP addresses, fake accounts it paid real people to make, and banks of SIM cards used to receive verification texts.
Key Investment Group allegedly bought over 379,000 tickets from Ticketmaster in just over a year, reselling them at a significant markup. The FTC alleges the company made $64 million in sales while spending only $57 million on tickets.
In response, Key Investment Group claims the FTC has “twisted the intent” of the BOTS Act and is using it as a “weapon” targeting business and consumers.
Source: https://www.theverge.com/news/761476/taylor-swift-eras-tour-ftc-ticket-reseller-bots-lawsuit