Founder of Vertices Partners accuses BookMyShow for using ticket bots to blackmarket Coldplay tickets

In a serious complaint filed with the Economic Offences Wing (EOW), Mumbai, Amit Vyas, the founder of law firm Vertices Partners, has accused BookMyShow and Live Nation Entertainment of engaging in organised crime, cheating, and criminal breach of trust under the Bhartiya Nyaya Samhita, 2023.

The complaint, reviewed by MediaNama, alleges that the two companies conspired to black market tickets for Coldplay's much-anticipated 2025 India concert by reselling them on the Viagogo platform at exorbitant rates.

According to Vyas, BookMyShow, the exclusive ticketing partner for Coldplay's January concert, manipulated the sales process to deliberately log out fans moments before tickets were released. Meanwhile, Viagogo, a global ticket resale platform, began offering bulk tickets for sale, with prices ranging between Rs 30,000 and Rs 2 lakhs per ticket - compared to the original price range of Rs 2,000 to Rs 12,500.

Allegations of Ticket Scalping and Black Market Dealings

Vyas' complaint accuses BookMyShow of orchestrating a fraudulent ticketing system. He claims that upon attempting to purchase tickets, he was logged out of BookMyShow's platform at 12:00 pm on the day of the sale, which cited server downtime. When he managed to re-enter the platform 16 minutes later, he was placed in a digital queue behind 12 lakh other users. By the time he reached the front, tickets had sold out and were found listed on Viagogo at highly inflated prices. According to Vyas, around 9 lakh of the queue positions were manipulated using ticket bots.

The complaint further accuses BookMyShow of artificially creating the digital queue, arguing that ticket bots cannot function when a site is down. Vyas also alleges that the tickets were misappropriated by insiders with access to the platform, who ensured that a significant number ended up on Viagogo. Multiple users echoed Vyas's experience, reporting that they were unable to complete their ticket purchases despite seemingly being in favorable queue positions.

Criminal Breach of Trust and Tax Evasion Claims

Vyas claims that the ticket black market operation was only possible with the direct involvement of key managerial personnel at both BookMyShow and Live Nation Entertainment, who have also been named in the complaint. The accusations extend to criminal breach of trust, as BookMyShow was entrusted with the responsibility of selling tickets but allegedly violated that obligation by engaging in scalping and reselling practices.

In addition, Vyas has alleged tax evasion by BookMyShow, stating that the company deprived the Indian government of substantial tax revenues by unlawfully selling tickets to Viagogo, a foreign entity. The complaint outlines that these actions violate Indian law under the Information Technology Act, 2000, particularly concerning website blocking and ticket reselling practices.

Not the First Viagogo Complaint in India

This case is not an isolated incident. Last year, a similar complaint was filed against Viagogo's resale of ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 tickets. The complainant at the time argued that the platform was engaging in "unfair trade practices" and hiking ticket prices by 80-100 times the original cost, violating the IT Rules, 2021, and the E-Commerce Rules, 2020.

Vyas' complaint suggests that the pattern of ticket reselling on Viagogo is a recurring issue in India, one that demands urgent legal scrutiny.