Liverpool Football Club has taken a significant step in the fight against ticket touting, shutting down 145,000 ticket accounts over the past two years. This move is part of a broader crackdown against this illegal practice that has been impacting sports fans and sports betting enthusiasts alike.
In an unprecedented move, Liverpool issued 1,114 lifetime bans last season. This decision came after discovering mass manipulation of software used to purchase tickets. Eleven of these bans were applied to season ticket holders.
The Premier League champions also denied entry to 500 people who attempted to gain access with burner phones at Anfield in the last year. These phones are often used by touts to avoid tracing their illicit activities.
Black market for Premier League tickets
A recent investigation by BBC Sport exposed an industrial-scale black market for Premier League tickets. Despite reselling being illegal under UK law, many websites continue operating from outside the country.
Resellers often use bot software and fake identities to acquire hundreds of tickets which they then sell at inflated prices. This practice affects fans' ability to attend games via official exchanges or membership ballots and can result in supporters paying exorbitant prices or losing money on non-functional tickets.
As part of their crackdown efforts, Liverpool investigators shut down 162 social media groups involved in selling fake or overpriced real tickets. These groups had a combined membership exceeding one million users. On match days alone, nearly 400 targeted stops were carried out preventing access for accounts with suspicious activity.
Significant increase in lifetime bans
The number of lifetime bans handed out represents a massive increase from just 75 imposed during the 2023-24 campaign. During that same season, Liverpool closed down around 100,000 fake accounts and implemented new preventative measures such as multi-factor authentication and advanced fraud analysis tools.
Liverpool, which boasts over 30,000 season ticket holders, operates an official sanctions process. Senior club officials and a member from an independent supporter association hear cases and decide on the appropriate course of action. The majority of lifetime bans and indefinite suspensions were for unauthorised selling of season tickets, memberships or hospitality tickets.
Liverpool is not alone in this fight against touting. Arsenal reported cancelling nearly 74,000 accounts attempting to obtain tickets illegally and banned over 7,000 memberships this season. Chelsea blocked over 350,000 attempted purchases from bots. The Premier League urges fans to exercise "extreme caution" when using unauthorised sites and is introducing encrypted barcodes for digital ticketing to make touting more difficult.
