DOMESTIC Trade and Cost of Living Minister Datuk Seri Salahuddin Ayub said his ministry has yet to receive a single formal complaint from consumers concerning Coldplay tickets being hoarded and resold by scalpers.
This is as his ministry had only received 28 “general complaints” from the public as a result of its monitoring of social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
“The complaints are general in nature where the social media user informs their followers that Coldplay tickets are being sold from an unofficial platform online,” the Pulai MP said during a joint press conference with Communications and Digital Minister Fahmi Fadzil in Parliament today (May 23).
“Some netizens were making noise on social media and we (the ministry) just heard about it. The 28 complaints are not specific as there were no victims making reports, so there is no prima facie that they were really cheated.”
The Simpang Jerai assemblyman also urged members of the public to come forward and file a police report if they have evidence of being scammed by ticket resellers and gave assurance that the ministry would investigate the problem in accordance with the applicable laws.
“If you feel like you have been victimised, or if you have already received your e-tickets when Live Nation Malaysia, who is the Coldplay concert organiser, has not yet released them, please make a report,” he said.
Salahuddin further pointed out that it is “timely” to consider how the law should be revised to tackle scalpers, especially since tickets for sporting events or buses may be affected in the future, also reiterating his recommendation to the public to buy tickets from authorised sources.
Salahuddin and Fahmi also said both their ministries are studying various aspects before mooting the law to prevent and act against ticket scalpers.
“I have spoken with Salahuddin and at the time being, we don’t have legislation that can deal with ticket scalpers,” Fahmi remarked.
“Therefore, we will be discussing with other ministries as well, to see whether there needs to be a law to prevent instances of ‘scalping’ in future events or concerts.”
Commenting further, Fahmi said the proposed legislation will cover every aspect of bulk ticket purchasing.
“We take note from several other countries like the US and Australia that have experienced similar issues and enacted laws to prevent them.
“We will see if the laws were successful and gauge their suitability to be implemented here,” he said.
In the meantime, Fahmi said the organiser revealed that it recorded 700,000 attempts to buy Coldplay tickets after meeting with representatives from Salahuddin’s ministry and Live Nation yesterday (May 22).
“A total of 71,000 tickets were sold while there were 26,000 successful transactions through different credit cards.
“Live Nation was unable to explain to the ministries whether those who had purchased the tickets were bots or any other programmes of the sort,” the Lembah Pantai MP said. – May 23, 2023
Main pic credit: Bernama
