Scalpers Work with Hackers to Liberate Ticketmaster's 'Non-Transferable' Tickets

Scalpers have managed to reverse-engineer Ticketmaster's ticket creation process, allowing them to generate and sell "non-transferable" tickets on their own infrastructure. A lawsuit filed by AXS in California has exposed the battle between scalpers and ticket platforms, revealing how scalpers extract tickets by creating entry barcodes on their controlled infrastructure. By understanding how Ticketmaster and AXS produce electronic tickets, scalpers can recreate genuine tickets, bypassing anti-scalping measures. Although AXS accuses scalpers of hacking and distributing "counterfeit" tickets, most of these tickets scan as authentic. Security researchers have demonstrated how scalpers can generate valid tickets for events by reverse engineering Ticketmaster's barcode generation process. This method is likely applicable to AXS tickets as well. The lawsuit highlights the challenge platforms face in preventing scalpers from exploiting their systems, leading to a legal and technological battle in the ticketing industry.