BTS concerts in Lima: National Police activate virtual patrols against ticket fraud
The National Police have activated virtual surveillance against digital fraud in the sale of tickets for the three BTS concerts in Lima. False domains and human trafficking alerts have been detected.
National Police deploy cyber patrols against fraud in BTS ticket sales
With the start of ticket sales for the three BTS concerts in Lima—scheduled for 7, 9 and 10 October at San Marcos stadium—the National Police of Peru (PNP) activated virtual patrols to prevent fraud. According to elcomercio.pe, the Division for Investigation of High-Technology Crimes (Divindat) issued alerts about fraud networks operating through false identities and cloned websites.
Commander PNP Mario Carrasco, head of Cyber Crime Investigation, noted that portals have been identified which replicate the design of authorised platforms with precision, with the objective of capturing personal and banking data from buyers.
"The creation of false profiles is solely for the purpose of committing fraud against these young people through identity theft. The creation of these websites, exactly like the official one, is so that the victim enters their data and then becomes a target of computer fraud," Carrasco stated to the Andina agency.
Divindat also warned that criminals use artificial intelligence to generate profiles that imitate the language of ARMY—the official BTS fan community—and impersonate the visual identity of Ticketmaster, the official sales platform.
The cybersecurity company Kaspersky reported the detection of at least 10 fraudulent domains created this month that impersonate the authorised sales platforms. According to experts, these sites operate with sophisticated false images and pressure tactics that induce users to make bank transfers without questioning the transaction, taking advantage of fans' urgency.
The police alert also extends to social media, where tickets are being offered at prices triple the original value, reaching up to S/2,500. The fan clubs themselves have publicly rejected these practices.
Additionally, it was reported that individuals are using the anticipation for the concerts to demand sexual favours in exchange for tickets. Authorities indicated that there would be possible human trafficking networks seeking to recruit followers—including minors, young women and adults—taking advantage of the massive enthusiasm for the South Korean group.
Commander Carrasco emphasised the importance of purchasing tickets exclusively through official channels. "You register on the official platform where you will be informed of the start of the group's arrival, the methods and payment locations," he stated.
For its part, Ticketmaster Perú recalled that the transfer of tickets between users will only be enabled from September onwards, so any offer of "immediate delivery" outside the Weverse platform or the official ticketing system represents a concrete risk of fraud.
Source: Google News PE — Lima