In a landmark case for National Trading Standards, online ticket touts Peter Hunter and David Smith (aka BZZ) were jailed today for 4 years and 30 months respectively.
Following a long-running trial, the pair had been found guilty on February 13th 2020 of fraudulently and dishonestly buying and reselling tickets for high-profile music and entertainment events.
Full details here:
https://www.nationaltradingstandards.uk/news/landmark-prosecution-for-secondary-ticketing-fraud/
In reaction, FanFair Alliance issued the following comment:
“Today’s sentences represent a major blow to online ticket touts who break the law and rip off the public.
“It’s a fantastic result for National Trading Standards and for music lovers across the UK, and should also send shockwaves through secondary ticketing platforms like Viagogo and StubHub whose businesses are dependent upon large-scale resellers.
“By facilitating the activities of online touts, there must be concerns that the platforms themselves are profiting from the sale of tickets unlawfully acquired by their biggest suppliers.
“This should be investigated as a matter of urgency, and lead to action against those platforms if they have benefitted from the proceeds of criminality.”