[UPDATED] No official complaints received on Coldplay ticket scalpers: Salahuddin

KUALA LUMPUR – The Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Ministry has yet to receive a single official complaint from consumers over the issue of Coldplay tickets being hoarded and resold by scalpers, said its minister Datuk Seri Salahuddin Ayub. 

According to Salahuddin, the ministry has only detected 28 “general complaints” from the public through its monitoring of online social media sites such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. 

“The complaints are general in nature where (the user) informs (their followers) that Coldplay tickets are being sold from an unofficial platform online. 

“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,” Salahuddin said during a joint press conference with Communications and Digital Minister Fahmi Fadzil in Parliament today.

Urging members of the public to come forward and lodge a police report if they have evidence of being cheated by ticket resellers, Salahuddin also assured that the ministry will investigate the matter according to relevant laws. 

“If you feel like you have been victimised, or if you have already received your e-tickets when (Coldplay concert organiser) Live Nation Malaysia has not yet released them, please make a report.”

Reiterating his advice to the public to purchase tickets from legitimate sources, the Pulai MP said it is “timely” to look at how the law should be amended to curb scalpers, especially since tickets for sport events or buses could be affected in the future.  

Meanwhile, Fahmi said that during a meeting he attended yesterday which included representatives from Salehuddin’s ministry and Live Nation, it was disclosed by the organiser that it recorded 700,000 attempts to purchase Coldplay tickets. 

“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.”

Previously, netizens had taken to social media to slam Live Nation Malaysia and ticketing platform Go Live Asia for ostensibly poor management of ticket sales which allegedly allowed scalpers to take advantage of desperate buyers and make a quick buck. 

This came after pre-sale tickets for the British rock band were sold out in a few hours last Wednesday, with more than 400,000 buyers queuing virtually to purchase them.

The Vibes also reported that a victim purchased a ticket from a Twitter user but was immediately blocked after he transferred the money.

However, those who were successful in purchasing tickets were required to include their MyKad number, and it would be displayed on the ticket as well.

The ministry subsequently urged sellers to be more ethical when conducting business, and not to break any law. – The Vibes, May 23, 2023