Mumbai3 days agoAuthor: Ashish Tiwari
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The India concert of British musical band Cold Play is scheduled to take place in January 2025. Its online ticket window was opened two days ago. All the tickets were sold within a few minutes. Ticket selling site Book My Show crashes.
Those who were expecting tickets were disappointed. Even a big filmmaker 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 manipulation of tickets had taken place on a large scale. Tickets which are not available on the site are easily being sold outside at 10 to 15 times higher prices. The situation is that a ticket of Rs 3500 is available for Rs 70 thousand. There are some gangs in Mumbai, who are selling tickets in black.
The person committing fraud turned 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 Mohsin Sheikh, a freelance journalist, and Shakir Punjabi, who runs an NGO in Mumbai. We caught hold of a person named Ajman, who is a DJ in the club by profession, but also does black marketing of tickets.
A ticket worth Rs 35 thousand was being sold for Rs 1 lakh 70 thousand. We started talking to that fraudster through social media. We demanded tickets from him. She said that she will get as much as she wants. He told 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 priced at Rs 1 lakh 70 thousand and the ticket rate of corporate box is said to be up to Rs 25 lakh. He also said that he will provide tickets for upcoming events as well.
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The fraudster made a suspicious called to talk to the place After taking all this information, we asked the scammer for his location. He said make the payment online and I will send the ticket. Since we had to expose this in front of the camera, we requested to meet and talk to him. Agreeing to our request, he called us to a hotel in Kurla (an area of Mumbai).
We reached there, but that person was not found. We messaged him again on Instagram. Then he sent the new location. He called us under a bridge in Kurla itself.
Now this place was a bit suspicious, incidents of theft and assault often happen here. The people of our team were a little scared, yet we decided to go there. We met him by changing the name.
Further conversation.. Question: We need Coldplay concert tickets. will get? answer- Yes, you will definitely get it. Tell me how much you want. By the way, if you want it in bulk, let me know, I can get it as much as you want.
Question- But what is its confirmation? How will you give the ticket? answer– Don’t worry about him. You will receive a confirmation mail. After this, you will also get a hand band two days before the concert.
Question- Can there be some reduction in the rate? answer- Although you may be meeting me for the first time, but still I will reduce the rate. Just tell me how many tickets you want, because there is a lot of competition. The sale of tickets is going on in 12-12 boxes (lakh).
Question- Do you have any arrangements for the upcoming events? answer– We have arrangements for every event. We help in all the ticketing events including IPL and World Cup. Whenever you need tickets, contact me.
Question- How are tickets being sold out so quickly on Book My Show? answer– The staff inside Book My Show does all this work. They remove the tickets from the site by showing them as sold. Then they earn profit by selling it outside at many times the rate. How are we getting these tickets? The people inside are giving, that is why we are getting it.
The actual rate of tickets for Coldplay event can be understood from this graph. The most expensive ticket is Rs 35 thousand, which fraudsters are selling for Rs 1 lakh 70 thousand.
Question- Right now I need a ticket. I will tell you when to buy the rest in bulk. Will it still be okay if I give some token money? answer- Tickets will be available immediately, but token money will not suffice. You will have to make full payment. Even if you are buying tickets in bulk, you will have to pay the full amount.
After this we gave 70 thousand rupees cash to that person. He counted all the money right there on the roadside. After this he called some person 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. Now he did not tell who has to do it.
These people give tickets after taking money. We do not give any guarantee whether the ticket is genuine or not.
He gave us an online ticket, the booking ID of which he had hidden. Now there is no guarantee whether the ticket given by him is genuine or not. From the words of that fraudster, it seemed that a whole nexus was going on behind him. Very big people are involved in this. He also told that many people buy tickets from him and resell them.
He gave the ticket online but had hidden the booking ID.
No response from Book My Show Since the fraudster has also accused Book My Show of being a scam, we called Book My Show CEO Ashish Hemrajani to find out the truth. He has not responded yet. Didn’t even reply to the message.
There is no specific law regarding counterfeiting of tickets in India. Is there any law against counterfeiting of tickets in India? To know the answer, 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 concrete law to stop such illegal activities.
Former ACP Mumbai, Vasant Dhoble said that if fraudsters are saying such things against Book My Show, then they should come forward and give clarification. Keeping their complaint in mind, action can be taken.
Why is it important to stop counterfeiting? There is no data on tickets that are bought or sold in the black. This is straight up tax evasion. The government suffers a lot from this. The government is shown selling tickets at a lower rate, while outside it is sold at a much higher price.
Apart from this, common people never get tickets for such events because the tickets are already sold in black. Those who have money can easily buy tickets at higher prices, but common people are deprived of it.
A crowd of lakhs gathers at the musical concert, people are crazy to attend. There has been a lot of enthusiasm for musical concerts in India in recent years. Thousands and lakhs of people are gathering at the concerts of Punjabi and foreign singers. People are going crazy to attend these concerts, perhaps that is why they are not holding back in spending money.
*** Story Input- Mohsin Shaikh