Hackers are using computer software to lock up front-row seats and then offer them to ticket brokers who resell the tickets at hugely inflated prices.
It may explain why tickets priced at $129 by Ticketmaster for next week's Elton John concert in Kitchener, Ont., were being sold through Showtime Tickets in Vancouver for up to $900.
€œI think that'€™s totally unfair. That shouldn'€™t be allowed,†said a fan who lined up to buy tickets for the Elton John concert.
The practice of re-selling tickets may seem unfair, and is illegal in a handful of provinces, including Alberta, Manitoba and Ontario.
But it's allowed in British Columbia and according to a CBC investigation, no one is cracking down on the software that beats ordinary fans to the front line.
Allan Caine, a University of Waterloo computer sciences student, showed CBC how he has designed a similar program to read the captcha [which makes sure a human is entering a site] on a ticket company's website.
"It makes me mad to think that all of the best seats are already taken up,'' he said.
Mario Livich, who runs Showtime Tickets in Vancouver, says he gets event tickets from a variety of sources including promoters and season ticket holders. He has no doubt that some of his suppliers are using computer software to grab the best seats.
"Yeah I believe that people are doing that, absolutely.'' he said.
Livich is philosophical about the question of whether this is fair.
"Is it fair? I'm not here to judge what's right or wrong. Our job is strictly to connect the buyer and the seller. If somebody comes and sells us a ticket, we don't ask them, 'how did you get that ticket?' We don't.''Â Â Â
Vancouver music artist manager Terry McBride said celebrities like Elton John are not to blame for the fact that some people are beating fans to the best tickets and reselling them to ticket brokers.
"It's certainly not why the artist is doing the show, otherwise, the artist would've charged that price right off the bat,'' McBride said.
For his part, Livich says he prefers to focus on the priceless memories which he says companies like Showtime Tickets help to create by connecting fans with the show they want to see when they want to see it.
Ticketmaster declined to be interviewed by CBC for this story.
Last year, a U.S. judge awarded Ticketmaster a preliminary court injunction against a software company whose programs allegedly help scalpers cut to the front of Ticketmaster's line and snap up big blocks of tickets. (c) CBC
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