India concert of world famous musical band 'Cold Play' is going to be held in January 2025. The online ticket window was opened two days ago. All the tickets were sold out within minutes. Ticket sales site Book My Show Crash. Common people hoping for tickets were disappointed. Even a big filmmaker like Karan Johar didn't get a concert ticket. Former UP CM Akhilesh Yadav has also expressed concern about this.
Now the biggest question is how thousands of tickets were sold in a minute or two. Was there any black marketing behind this? Frontpage Insights's team conducted a sting operation to investigate it. The sting revealed that the tickets were rigged on a large scale. Tickets that are not available on the Site are easily selling for 10 to 15 times the price outside. The situation is that a ticket worth 3500 rupees is available for 70 thousand rupees. There are some gangs in Mumbai who are selling tickets in black.
The impostor turns out to be the club's DJ. We met people in Mumbai who led us to these fraudsters. However, this required long planning. We contacted these fraudsters through freelance journalist Mohsin Shaikh and Shakir Punjabi, who runs an NGO in Mumbai. We caught a man named Ajman, who is a club DJ by profession, but also blackmarkets tickets.
A ticket of 35 thousand rupees was being sold for 1 lakh 70 thousand rupees. We started talking to that thug through social media. We demanded tickets from them. He said that he will get as much as he wants. He mentioned the ticket rates. The lowest priced ticket of Rs 3500 is said to be priced at Rs 70 thousand, the lounge ticket of Rs 35 thousand is said to be priced at Rs 1 lakh 70 thousand and the corporate box ticket is said to be priced up to Rs 25 lakh. He also said that he will provide tickets for upcoming events as well.
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Fraudulent Suspicious in place Called for a conversation After taking all this information, we asked the scammer his location. He said make the payment online I will send the ticket. We requested to meet and talk to him as we wanted to expose this on camera. Agreeing to our request, he invited us to a hotel in Kurla (an area of Mumbai). We reached there, but the person was not found. We messaged him again on Instagram. Then he sent a new location. He called us under a bridge in Kurla itself.
Now this place was a bit suspicious, frequent thefts and assaults. People in our team got a little scared, but we decided to go there. We met him by changing the name.
Next conversation.. Q- We need Coldplay concert tickets. get? Answer- Yes, you definitely will. Tell me how much you want. By the way, if you want it in bulk, let me know, I can get you as much as you want.
Q- But what is its confirmation? How to give tickets? Answer : Don't worry about it. You will receive a confirmation mail. After this, you will also get a hand band two days before the concert.
Q- Can the price come down a bit? Answer- Although you have met me for the first time, I will still lower the price. Just tell me how many tickets you want, as there is a lot of competition. Tickets are being sold in 12-12 boxes (Lakh).
Q- Do you have any ideas for upcoming events? Answer : We have arrangements for every event. We help in all ticketing events including IPL and World Cup. Whenever you need tickets, contact me.
Q- How are tickets selling so fast at Book My Show? Answer: The staff at Book My Show do it all. They remove the tickets from the site showing sold out. Then they make a profit by selling it out at multiple rates. How do we get these tickets? Only the insiders give.
Q- Now I want a ticket. I will let you know when to buy the rest in bulk. Would it be ok if I give some token money? Answer- Tickets will be available immediately, but token money is not enough. You must pay in full. Even if you are buying tickets in bulk, you have to pay the full amount.
We gave 70 thousand cash to the fraudster, he told someone on the phone – the money has been received After this we gave that person 70 thousand rupees in cash. He counted all the money on the side of the road. After this he called some person and said – money has been received, please send him a confirmation mail. He said that he has to hand over this money to someone. Now he did not say who is going to do it.
These people take money and give tickets. We do not give any guarantee that the ticket is genuine or not.
He gave us an online ticket, the booking ID of which he had hidden. Now there is no sure whether the ticket given by him is genuine or not. From the words of the impostor, it seemed that a whole conspiracy was going on behind him. Many big people are involved in this. He also stated that many people buy tickets from him and resell them.
He booked the ticket online but hid the booking ID.
No response from Book My Show As the fraudster also accused Book My Show of being a scam, we called Book My Show CEO Ashish Hemarjani to find out the truth. He has not reacted yet. Didn't even reply to the message.
There is no specific law regarding ticket copying in India. Is there any law against ticket counterfeiting in India? We contacted lawyer Ali Kashif Khan Deshmukh to find out the answer. “There is no specific law to ban black marketing of entertainment tickets except cinema tickets,” he said.
Currently, only the provisions of Sections 406, 420 of the IPC or the BNS and the IT Act are applicable in this case. Hence the government should make a solid law to stop such illegal activities.
Former ACP Mumbai Vasant Dhobal said that if fraudsters are talking like this against Book My Show, they should come forward and explain. Action can be taken keeping in view their complaints.
Why is it important to stop counterfeiting? Black has no data of tickets bought or sold. This is direct tax evasion. This causes a lot of loss to the government. The government is shown selling tickets at low rates, while outside they are sold at much higher prices.
Apart from this common people never get tickets for such events as the tickets are already sold in black. Those who have money can easily buy tickets at high prices, but common people are deprived.
Musical concerts gather crowds of millions, people are crazy to attend. In recent years, there has been an amazing atmosphere around musical concerts in India. Thousands and millions of people are gathering at the concerts of Punjabi and foreign singers. People are going crazy to attend these concerts, maybe that's why they are not holding back in spending money.
Image Credit: (Divya-Bhaskar): Images/graphics belong to (Divya-Bhaskar).
