Taiwan’s Criminal Investigation Bureau announced on Aug. 11 that it had broken up a ticket scalping ring, timing the disclosure to the day K-pop group aespa performed at Taipei Dome. According to a report cited in the source article, eight people, including suspects surnamed Luo and Huang, were found to have used a SIM box-based SMS collection platform to register more than 800 ghost accounts for ticket buying.
The group had targeted high-demand events since last year, including shows by BLACKPINK, BABYMONSTER, Mayday and G.E.M., the report said. In total, it allegedly obtained more than 2,000 tickets with a combined face value of about NT$11 million.
When authorities closed in during mid-July, three members of the group were preparing to leave Taiwan and were stopped at the airport. After questioning by prosecutors, the suspects were placed under travel restrictions and released on bail ranging from NT$100,000 to NT$1 million. The alleged ringleader, surnamed Luo, was already being held in another case.
How the SIM box setup was used
The device described in the report as a “cat pool,” or SIM box, is commonly associated with fraud operations. A single unit can hold a large number of SIM cards and receive SMS verification codes in bulk. The article said tools originally used to maintain fake accounts and send scam messages were repurposed for ticket-buying systems.
Ticketing platforms usually send a one-time password, or OTP, to a phone number when a new account is registered. That step is meant to enforce a one-person, one-account rule. With a SIM box in place, however, verification can be handled at scale, allowing one operator to create account after account and control hundreds of them at the same time in a ticket queue. Investigators said the more than 800 ghost accounts found in this case were built in that way.
AI is lowering the barrier to entry
The article said AI tools have made ticket-buying scripts easier to build. Tasks that once required people to manually handle login flows, queue steps, verification and checkout can now be partially completed with generative coding tools, making workable scripts accessible even to non-engineers.
The report cited data from Ticketmaster showing that in the fourth quarter of 2025, the company blocked an average of 566 million bots per day. Over the past year, it also rejected 1.6 billion fake account registration attempts.
Jeremiah Smith, head of AI at the U.S. cybersecurity organization Carolina Cyber Network, said bots can now mimic mouse movement, spoof IP addresses and operate at rhythms that look closer to human behavior. That makes it harder for platforms to separate real users from automated programs.
How ticketing platforms are responding
The same dynamic also gives platforms more signals to monitor. As bots try to look more human, they generate more observable behavior that can be analyzed. The article listed several common layers of defense used by ticketing platforms:
- Behavior analysis: human buyers browse, compare and hesitate, while bots may make decisions in milliseconds.
- Device fingerprinting: platforms collect dozens of signals such as screen resolution, installed fonts, browser extensions and time zone, which are harder to replicate across large numbers of fake users.
- Randomized queuing: entry order is randomized to remove the speed advantage of bots operating in fractions of a second.
- Identity checks and non-transferable tickets: if resale profits disappear, scalpers have less reason to invest in the arms race.
Penalties under Taiwan law
Taiwan’s anti-scalping provisions took effect on June 2, 2023, and were written into Article 10-1 of the Cultural and Creative Industries Development Act. Under that article, reselling tickets at a markup can trigger fines equal to 10 to 50 times face value per ticket. Obtaining tickets through bots, plug-ins or other improper means is punishable by up to three years in prison or a fine of up to NT$3 million. The eight suspects in this case were referred under that provision.
The article added that ticket prices for aespa’s Taipei show ranged from NT$1,940 to NT$7,880. Using higher-priced seats as an example, liability for a single ticket could approach NT$80,000, with larger markups or repeat offenses carrying heavier consequences.
Taiwan’s culture authority also offers rewards for whistleblowers. Reports involving marked-up resale can receive 20% of the fine imposed, capped at NT$100,000, while reports involving improper ticket-grabbing methods can receive NT$100,000. The article said the reporting portal received more than 100 complaints in its first month, with estimated total fines exceeding NT$10 million.
Key issues raised by the case
Why a SIM box can be effective in ticket grabbing
A SIM box can hold a large number of SIM cards and collect SMS verification codes in bulk. Because ticketing platforms often rely on OTP-based phone verification to limit each person to one account, the device can turn that control into a scalable process and let one operator manage hundreds of ghost accounts.
What penalties scalpers face in Taiwan
Under Article 10-1 of the Cultural and Creative Industries Development Act, marked-up ticket resale can be fined at 10 to 50 times face value per ticket. Using bots, plug-ins or other improper tools to obtain tickets can lead to a prison term of up to three years, a fine of up to NT$3 million, or both.