Mumbai2 minutes agoAuthor: Ashish Tiwari
- copy link
The world famous musical band Coldplay's India concert is going to be held in January 2025. The online ticket window was opened two days ago. All the tickets were sold out in a few minutes. The ticket selling site Book My Show crashed.
The common people who were waiting with the hope of getting tickets were disappointed. Even a big film maker like Karan Johar did not get a ticket for the concert. Former UP CM Akhilesh Yadav has also expressed concern over this.
Now the biggest question is how thousands of tickets were sold within a minute or two. Was there any black marketing behind this? To investigate this, Dainik Bhaskar's team conducted a sting operation.
The sting revealed that there has been manipulation of tickets on a large scale. The tickets which are not available on the site are being easily sold outside at 10 to 15 times the price. The situation is such that a ticket worth Rs. 3500 is being sold for Rs. 70 thousand. There are some gangs in Mumbai which are selling tickets in black.
The fraudster turned out to be a club DJ We met people in Mumbai who led us to these fraudsters. However, this required a lot of planning. We contacted these fraudsters through freelance journalist Mohsin Sheikh and Shakir Punjabi who runs an NGO in Mumbai. We got hold of a person named Ajman, who is a DJ in a club by profession but also does black marketing of tickets.
A ticket worth 35 thousand rupees was being sold for 1 lakh 70 thousand rupees. We started talking to the fraud through social media. We demanded tickets from him. He said that we will give you as many as you want. He told us the rates of the tickets. The lowest priced ticket of Rs 3500 is for Rs 70 thousand, lounge ticket of Rs 35 thousand is for Rs 1 lakh 70 thousand and corporate box ticket rate is up to Rs 25 lakh. He also said that he will provide tickets for upcoming events as well.
View chats
The fraudster has a suspicious called to the place for discussion After getting all this information, we asked the scammer for his location. He said that make the payment online and I will send the ticket. Since we had to expose this in front of the camera, we requested him to meet and talk. He agreed to our request and called 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, incidents of theft and assault often take place here. The people of our team got a bit scared, despite this we decided to go there. We met him by changing our name.
Further conversation.. Question- We want tickets for Coldplay concert. Can we get them? Answer- Yes, you will get it. Tell me how much you want. By the way, if you want in bulk, then tell me, I can get you as much as you want.
Question- But what is its confirmation. How will you give the ticket? answer– Don't worry about it. You will get a confirmation mail. After this, you will also get a hand band two days before the concert.
Question- Can there be some reduction in rates? answer- Although you have met me for the first time, still I will reduce the rate. Just tell me how many tickets you want, because there is a lot of rush. Tickets are being sold in 12 boxes (lakhs) each.
Question: Do you have any plans for upcoming events? answer– We have arrangements for every event. We are involved in all ticketing events including IPL and World Cup. Whenever you need tickets, contact me.
Question- How are tickets getting sold out so quickly on Book My Show? Answer– The staff inside Book My Show does all this work. They show the tickets as sold on the site and take them out. Then they make profit by selling them outside at many times the price. How are these tickets coming to us? The people inside are giving them, that's why we are getting them.
The actual rate of tickets for the Coldplay event can be understood from this graph. The most expensive ticket is for 35 thousand, which the fraudsters are selling for 1 lakh 70 thousand.
Question- Right now I need one ticket. I will tell you when I have to buy the rest in bulk. Is it okay if I pay some token money? answer- You will get the ticket immediately, but token money will not work. You will have to make full payment. Even if you are buying tickets in bulk, you will have to pay the full amount.
We gave 70 thousand cash to the fraudster, he told someone on the phone that we have received the money After this we gave that person 70 thousand rupees in cash. He counted the entire money right there on the road. After this he called someone and said- the money has been received, please send him a confirmation mail.
He said that he has to hand over this money to someone. He did not tell who he has to hand over the money to.
After taking money these people give tickets. They do not even give any guarantee whether the ticket is genuine or not.
He gave us an online ticket, whose booking ID he had hidden. Now there is no guarantee that the ticket he has given is real or not. From the words of that fraudster, it seemed that there is a whole nexus running behind him. Many big people are involved in this. He also told that many people buy tickets from him and resell them.
He gave the online ticket but had hidden the booking ID.
There was no response from Book My Show Since the fraudster has also accused Book My Show of scam, we called Book My Show CEO Ashish Hemrajani to know the truth. He has not replied yet. He did not even reply to the message.
There is no specific law in India regarding counterfeiting of tickets Is there any law against ticket counterfeiting in India? To know the answer to this, we contacted a lawyer Ali Kashif Khan Deshmukh. He said, 'There is no specific law to ban black marketing of entertainment tickets other than cinema tickets.
At present, only sections 406, 420 of IPC or provisions of BNS and IT Act are applicable in this case. Therefore, the government should make a strong law to stop such illegal activities.
Why is it important to prevent fraud? There is no data on the tickets that are bought or sold in black. This is straight-up tax evasion. The government suffers a lot of loss due to this. Ticket sales are shown to the government at a low rate, while outside they are sold at a much higher price.
Apart from this, ordinary people never get tickets for such events because the tickets are already sold in black. Those who have money easily buy tickets at high prices and go away, but ordinary people are deprived of it.
Millions of people gather at musical concerts, people are crazy to join In recent years, a great atmosphere has been seen in India regarding musical concerts. Thousands and lakhs of people are gathering in the concerts of Punjabi and foreign singers. People are going crazy to attend these concerts, perhaps that is why they are not shying away from spending money.
*** Story input- Mohsin Shaikh
