Federal regulators are suing a ticket broker they say used fake accounts to snag Eras Tour tickets and sell them at a markup.
Hot on the heels of Taylor Swift's "The Life of a Showgirl" announcement, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission filed a complaint in Maryland federal court on Aug. 18. The paperwork accused ticket reseller Key Investment Group of using thousands of fake or purchased Ticketmaster accounts to snag tickets to events and resell them at higher rates.
The FTC said for one of the Eras concerts, the Baltimore-based company deployed 49 different accounts to seize 273 tickets, evading the six-ticket purchase limit.
Key Investment Group operates resale sites such as TotalTickets.com.
Ticketmaster faced intense criticism after its botched 2022 sale of tickets to Swift’s much-hyped Eras Tour, when billions of fans, bots and resellers overwhelmed the site. The company was forced to cancel a planned general public sale.
