Football's ticket black market - are fans being ripped off?

A BBC investigation has exposed conscionable really easy it is to bargain Premier League tickets connected nan achromatic market.

We bought tickets from 4 websites labelled "unauthorised" by nan Premier League and utilized them to be 4 games past weekend.

The platforms declare to person tens of thousands of tickets available, though experts told america nan numbers are apt inflated.

Reselling shot tickets is forbidden successful nan UK but these companies are based overseas successful Spain, Dubai, Germany and Estonia - beyond nan scope of UK law.

So, who are they? And what other did we learn?

The Premier League and clubs only licence income connected their ain platforms and via charismatic partners.

For example, respective clubs person a narration pinch Ticketmaster.

If a protagonist cannot make a game, they are meant to waste aliases transportation their summons connected nan charismatic nine exchange.

These thin to prioritise members and support nan resale value astatine look value. Normally nan seller is paid successful in installments connected their nine account.

The Premier League people a database of websites they deem "unauthorised". , external

We chose 4 sites from that database that appeared to person nan astir listings and were accessible to customers successful nan UK.

Seat numbers were seldom displayed. Instead spot locations specified arsenic "longside little tier" and "shortside precocious tier" were shown.

But almost each type of summons was connected there, including hospitality. Prices were showed successful pounds and ranged from £55 to £14,962. In each cases a work interest of astir 25% was included successful nan value we paid.

After completing our purchases nan sellers were speedy to get successful touch. One from Seatsnet called america conscionable seconds aft paying.

They told america to expect a ticket, pinch a barcode, via email aliases Whatsapp successful nan coming days.

Later that week each nan tickets did get - nan 1 for Everton connected nan greeting of nan game. They were each integer tickets, downloaded from an online link, to beryllium scanned astatine nan ground.

You mightiness beryllium reference this and wondering what nan problem is pinch a secondary summons site, peculiarly if, successful nan lawsuit of nan Manchester derby, it allowed you entree to a sold-out crippled days earlier nan match.

Our findings showed tickets were being sold for acold higher than their look value, putting supporters buying them retired of pocket.

In addition, nan companies opportunity they person thousands of tickets available. That intends they person been taken retired of wide circulation truthful fans will find it harder to acquisition tickets astatine normal values from nan club.

Thirdly, location is simply a interest astir segregation and safety.

No checks were made connected who we supported. For nan Manchester derby, for example, we could person been Manchester United fans successful nan City end.

"Legislation is successful spot to minimise nan consequence of disorder, pinch shot clubs responsible for implementing their ain strategies to forestall summons income to unauthorised resellers," nan UK authorities said successful a statement.

"While nan rule applies only to home resales, it covers immoderate constituent of an unauthorised income concatenation that takes spot wrong England and Wales."

These were nan 4 internationally registered sites we used:

And it appears reselling Premier League tickets is large business for them.

Madrid based Livetix Group - nan institution down Live Football Tickets - recorded gross of 19m euros successful their past nationalist accounts.

Seatsnet were registered successful 1 of Dubai's 'free zones', which connection taxation exemptions and let profits to beryllium sent overseas.

All these websites picture themselves arsenic "ticket marketplaces", supposedly connecting buyers pinch sellers.

Only Ticombo, regularly displays who those sellers are.

And 1 seller - NGO Events - has much than 14,000 listings connected nan site.

But institution records show NGO Events is not an independent trader. It is tally by Thomas Senge, nan managing head of Ticombo Switzerland.

Senge and Ticombo's main executive Atle Barlaup besides some utilized to beryllium connected nan committee of WorldTix, different large seller connected Ticombo.

All 3 companies look to beryllium linked and are registered successful nan aforesaid mini Swiss municipality of Engelberg.

Ticombo told america NGO Events and WorldTix are "partners of Ticombo" but adhere to "the aforesaid obligations" arsenic different traders.

Barlaup is simply a acquainted sanction successful nan world of touting.

In 2011, he admitted to BBC Panorama that he had paid Fifa vice-president Jack Warner 242,000 euros successful rate for 820 World Cup tickets.

Ticombo said Barlaup said to BBC Panorama to "highlight corruption wrong Fifa".

Football Ticket Net excessively has a chequered past.

They are presently registered successful Estonia but their shareholders are from Israel.

Under a erstwhile genitor institution - owned by 1 of nan existent shareholders - they were fined 600,000 euros by a French tribunal for infringing Uefa's trademarks and trading tickets for European finals.

Live Football Tickets, Seatsnet and Football Ticket Net did not respond to our requests for comment.

Despite our 4 successes, getting done nan turnstiles is not ever straightforward pinch resold tickets.

We heard aggregate accounts of supporters being refused entry.

"It's Wild West stuff," said Crystal Palace instrumentality Matt.

He paid £400 connected a abstracted tract - Fanpass - truthful his 79-year-old uncle could be May's FA Cup final, only for him to beryllium turned distant astatine nan gate.

Wembley confirmed a copy summons had been scanned 20 minutes beforehand.

In messages seen by nan BBC, nan seller bragged astir sneaking 200 different group into nan match.

Fanpass told us: "Our privilege is to guarantee that each customer is capable to be nan arena for which they person purchased tickets. Cases successful which a customer is denied introduction are highly rare."

A Ticombo buyer, Alister had a likewise troubling experience.

When his summons failed, a tout met him extracurricular nan Emirates to personally scan him successful pinch a replacement.

Alister - a Nottingham Forest protagonist - had planned to beryllium successful nan distant end. Once inside, he realised his caller summons had placed him among nan location fans.

"The Arsenal fans didn't want america there," he said. "It was uncomfortable, inappropriate and wholly unacceptable."

Arsenal told america they "take beardown action against summons touting".

Many tickets are acquired by touts utilizing bots and clone identities. We do not cognize if this is simply a method utilized by immoderate of nan companies we person mentioned.

Some tickets transportation nan sanction of nan original holder, offering clues astir their origin.

Five tickets - bought from "unauthorised" sites and shared pinch america by fans - carnivore names that we recovered obscurity connected nan UK electoral unfastened register, nan England and Wales commencement records aliases societal media:

"At slightest a mates of them look to beryllium wholly synthetic," said summons information master Reg Walker.

"There's beardown logic to fishy they're being utilized to onslaught Premier League shot ticketing systems."

Despite being against nan law, alleged summons bots are different concern.

These machine programmes automate nan charismatic summons buying process and let touts to bargain aggregate tickets simultaneously.

Posing arsenic a imaginable customer, we said to 1 institution trading specified technology.

They offered america package designed to target nan summons platforms of 5 Premier League clubs - Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester United and Tottenham.

The bots were priced astatine $2,500 per club, aliases $9,900 for a package deal.

We were told we would request valid nine memberships, but nan package would fto america subordinate an online summons queue up to 25 times simultaneously pinch a "basic licence".

If nan clubs updated their information systems, nan institution promised "upgrades are included successful nan price".

The Premier League is already introducing caller rules for integer ticketing which see nan preamble of "encrypted barcodes".

They opportunity this will make touting much difficult.

Banking app-style ID verification and a limit connected nan number of times a summons tin beryllium transferred are 2 different solutions suggested by Manal Smith - erstwhile caput of ticketing astatine Arsenal.

The authorities has announced plans to headdress nan value of resale tickets crossed sectors.

But nan Football Supporters' Association said lawmakers request to spell further.

"There seems to beryllium a loophole wherever agencies are based overseas that needs to beryllium looked astatine successful position of legislation," says FSA chair Tom Greatrex, who is simply a erstwhile Labour MP.

Walker besides believes authorities targeted astatine nan overseas companies is nan answer.

"The authorities is not supranational. If you're extracurricular nan UK you don't perpetrate an offence - that's thing that a elemental amendment would solve."

Walker called nan conflict betwixt football's biggest clubs and summons resellers an "arms race".

Our investigation suggests it's a title nan clubs and regulators are presently losing.