Following singer Lim Young-woong, IU has also taken a strong stance against illegal ticket resales, a practice that disrupts the healthy culture and order of concerts, especially given their soaring popularity.
On September 22, IU's agency, EDAM Entertainment, announced, "We have taken measures against a total of 12 cases of unauthorized ticket reservations for the '2023 IU Fan Concert I+UN1VER5E' as per our previously stated policy."
The agency identified 12 instances of illegal ticket trades and has expelled the involved individuals from IU's official fan club 'Uaena'. Additionally, the violators' Melon Ticket IDs will be restricted for a year.
The agency further added, "We will continue to request explanations for any suspicious transactions identified through reports and monitoring. For cases with insufficient explanations, we intend to conduct additional identity verifications during on-site ticket collection. Detailed instructions will be sent individually via email and SMS. We ask for the cooperation of all fans."
IU is set to hold her '2023 IU Fan Concert I+UN1VER5E' on the 23rd and 24th at the KSPO DOME in Songpa-gu, Seoul. 'I+UN1VER5E' is an offline event held four years after her 11th debut anniversary fan meeting in 2019. The pre-sale tickets, exclusively for the official fan club Uaena, were sold out immediately, recording a peak of 350,000 simultaneous users.
Similarly, Lim Young-woong has been grappling with the issue of illegal ticket resales. On the 14th, tickets for the 6th Seoul performance of his 2023 national tour concert 'IM HERO' were released on Interpark Ticket and sold out in just a minute, recording a peak traffic of approximately 3.7 million.
The ticketing war for Lim Young-woong's concert, nicknamed the 'Filial Piety Concert', was intense. Shortly after the tickets sold out, scalpers were found selling two VIP tickets, originally priced at 160,000 won, for 1.8 million won. In response, Lim Young-woong's agency, Mulgogi Music, stated, "Scalpers who post sales notices at exorbitant prices immediately after ticketing disrupt the concert culture and order. We will cancel any reservations deemed illegal without prior notice."
Interpark Ticket also announced, "Based on our monitoring results, we have forcibly canceled and sent explanatory request SMSs to 16 accounts suspected of unauthorized reservations and illegal trades."
Lim Young-woong will kick off his national tour 'IM HERO' with six performances at the KSPO Dome (formerly the Gymnastics Stadium) in Seoul Olympic Park from October 27th to 29th and November 3rd to 5th. The tour will continue in Daegu, Busan, Daejeon, and Gwangju.
Meanwhile, online ticket fraud can result in up to 10 years in prison or a fine of up to 20 million won under Article 347 of the Criminal Act. Last December, the Daegu District Court sentenced an individual, who swindled 13.3 million won over 44 instances by offering tickets for concerts of famous singers like Lim Young-woong, to 1 year and 4 months in prison.
