Scalper arrested after selling McCartney concert ticket for Y80,000

So what's the big news here?

The dentist sold the ticket to Matsumoto, who in turn sold it (for a profit) to a company employee.

If the company employee was willing to pay the "surcharge" ... where is the problem?

It seems that the three of them were happy and satisfied with the deal.

So the dentist made no profit? How unusual.

Is scalping illegal in Japan? If so, why?

two men, one toilet, that in itself is enough to call the cops.

So where's the crime?

Is this a crime in Japan? I had a friend sell a JR ticket to a discount ticket shop for a tiny fraction of what she paid and then they turned around and sold it for a mere 500 yen or so off the original ticket price. People buy up as many tickets as they can here all the time and resell them on Yahoo Auction.

The dentist came all the way from Himeji to buy and then immediately resell one ticket?

I feel there's probably a lot more to this. The current level of detail makes it sound very odd.

This story is very confusingly written. It is like one of those math questions about two trains leaving from separate stations and moving different speeds. Kotani the dentist came to look for a ticket scalper. This makes it sound like Kotani wanted to buy a ticket for himself, even if he had to pay above face value. But in fact Kotani had a ticket he didn't want and so sold it for face value to Matsumoto. Matsumoto turned around and sold it for a huge profit. Why this would make Kotani guilty of a crime is unclear, unless he had arrangements with Matsumoto to split the profit, but this is not mentioned anywhere in the article.

Buy low, sell high.

Corporations live by this mantra - your average Joe is a criminal.

a gang leader hanging around in a khazi to make 60k on a ticket? sounds odd.

What a waste of space about this ...... is this news.????

Yes, folks, scalping tickets for more than face value is a crime. You can legally resell tickets for the face value or less.

Notice that when such tickets are sold on the auction sites their numbers and identifying information are obscured? This is why.

Who cares?

Mura illegal to buy tickets for the purpose of reselling. There were some arrests recently of people who bought up batches of tickets for the last run of the Twilight Express.

If you have a ticket you are suddenly unable to use and sell it for more than face value on Yahoo Auctions you might be able to get away with it. But if police notice you doing this repeatedly and in quantity you could be arrested.

The tickets resale shops are legitimately registered businesses who sell tickets at more than they bought them for, of course, but at less than face value. Some no longer available collector items, such as a telephone card with the photo of a famous singer might be sold at higher than face value but that is a different situation.

I have both bought and sold items at such shops and found them to be fairly priced.

I hate ticket touts. I hope it's illegal.

Just for those who don't know, scalping is illegal in most countries.

Yes, folks, scalping tickets for more than face value is a crime. You can legally resell tickets for the face value or less.

So why is the dentist being arrested for selling at face value? 18000yen is the actual price of the ticket.

"the gang leader sold a ticket worth 18,000 yen to Paul McCartney’s concert at Tokyo Dome on April 23 to a company employee for 80,000 yen."

Apparently the ticket is worth 80,000 yen to somebody.

Actually I agree, this article is confusingly written. The ticket's face value is 18000yen and the price he sold the ticket to the gang leader for is unmentioned.

AND?

huh? is it illegal because govt can't tax the sale?

It happen in western world everyday. They should catch thieves and other criminals instead of catching of scalpers.

Wow I know that dentist he is a friend of mine, he always comes to Tokyo so I just think he wanted to get rid of the ticket and didnt know he was selling it to a Yak

I have no clue why this is a crime. If someone is willing to buy a PM ticket for 80,000, then who is he hurting>

I wonder how much money this investigation and prosecution will cost the taxpayers? Probably more than 80,000 yen.

How did the dentist end up getting arrrested? If he'd already sold his ticket in the toilet why was he still hanging around with the Yak when the Yak got arrested?

I got a ticket for a Marinos-Man U game 10 metres from the entrance with police around. They seemed to talk to the tout for a bit but he was still selling tickets later. The name on my ticket was Thatsabar Chavarangi or something but I was just met with a "Hai Dozo!" when I went in.

Not really sure why the dentist was arrested unless he sold the ticket at an inflated price. The gangster probably fell afoul of a law relating to reselling a ticket on the venue's property. Many States in the U.S. allow reselling, but not on the venue's property.

I wonder how much money this investigation and prosecution will cost the taxpayers? Probably more than 80,000 yen.

So the justice system should evaluate every arrest now to determine whether it is cost-effective to prosecute? If that's the case, then the courts must close because NO trial is ever cost-effective.

Poorly written article. In the end, we don't even know why the dentist was arrested (the article doesn't say how much he sold the ticket to Matsumoto for), and we know just about as much as we knew after reading just the headline.

From Japanese language sites, Kotani was a friend of the yakuza from way back.

Goals0: That is complete BS I've know Kotani-san for 20 years there are no such ties.

The buyer is a big boy who knew exactly what he was buying with his ¥80,000. No victim, no crime. How much money do ya' think Sir Paul McCartney is gona' come away with?

gogogo

How can you say for sure whether Kotani did or did not know someone? You don't know all his acquaintances anymore than he would know all your's

If someone is willing to buy a PM ticket for 80,000, then who is he hurting

Scalping artificially inflates ticket prices. Criminal groups buy up all the tickets for popular shows as soon as they go on sale and sell them at ridiculous markups.

He's hurting your average Taro or Kyoko Tanaka, that's who.

gogogo: It might be wrong. I usually suspend judgement.

The story being leaked is that Kotani bought five tickets through the internet but had two more than he needed and asked the other guy for help in selling them.

I read two versions of this story in Japanese, Yahoo and Asahi, I think but not sure. Both stated that Kotani and Matsumoto were acquaintances (although one article didn't mention Kotani's name or occupation) and that Kotani asked Matsumoto to help him sell his two extra tickets (out of five he'd purchased). And that Matsumoto approached the buyer and negotiated the price. Neither mentioned how much, if any, Kotani got. One article mentioned the profits were suspected of being funneled to support Yakuza activities.

I went to the PM concert at Tokyo Dome last night and walking from Korakuen Station to the Dome I encountered 2 men in different locations that said they had tickets for sale. They were out in the open and spoke loudly so people walking by could hear them. Do not know what their prices were but I doubt they were selling for face value or less. They also did not seem to be concerned that they were doing something illegal.

Scalper by itself I think it is not a crime... it is however to trade and/or make business with a member of the Yakuza. Now the dentist bought the ticket and resold it right-away? That is fishy....

Another important aspect to me regarding scalping is whether the profits are being reported as income and whether income tax is being paid? Needing to unload one or two unexpectedly unusable tickets per year or so is one thing. But inconveniencing the general public by buying up batches specifically for resale (which constitutes running a business to my mind) and then not paying income tax, is a whole other ball of wax.