Page 123 - Cyber Defense eMagazine January 2023

also need to beat bots that can use many more resources than you can. Yes, those tickets can be later
purchased on resale sites, but for significantly more money. This substantially reduces customer
satisfaction while damaging the reputation of the ticket agents and ticket sales companies. This is why
ensuring they sell tickets to their fans and not to bots needs to become their priority.

The move in the right direction has already started with the Better Online Ticket Sales (BOTS) Act, which
President Barack Obama signed in December of 2016. This act bans the use of ticket bots for
circumventing ticket purchase limits and bypassing venues' ticketing rules and makes it a federal offense.
It also set a fine of $16,000 for reselling the tickets that were acquired through ticket bot software. Europe
followed a few years later when the European Union Parliament voted to ban ticket bots in April of 2019.

Fraudsters even go as far as selling unexisting tickets by using bots to impersonate legitimate people on
Facebook or other social media. They use these legitimate looking profiles to try to persuade innocent
victims to purchase the tickets from them. They often use a sob story as the reason they are no longer
able to attend the event, making you more likely to accept their terms

While this legislation is a step in the right direction in bringing the danger of bots to the public eye, there
is still much to do to prevent malicious actors from exploiting the systems and making a real difference.

Conclusion

As events are finally getting back on track, the importance of dealing with ticketing bots has never been
as crucial. Utilize all the tools at your disposal to ensure your events are open to real fans and not to the
malicious bots that wish to exploit you and your business.

About the Author

PJ has over a decade of experience in Fraud Prevention and a strong
understanding of Mitigating Fraud across the full spectrum of use
cases. Currently, PJ is the Head of Fraud Strategy & Education at
SEON. He speaks, engages, and educates folks on relevant fraud
trends and strategies, while continuously learning from the industry
and empowering fraud fighters across the globe. PJ also co-founded
About-Fraud, a Global Community for Fraud Fighters. About-Fraud
was built for Fraud Fighters, by Fraud Fighters and offers a one-stop
shop for educational resources to folks who work in fraud prevention.
PJ exudes passion and vibrancy that engages others while offering
a refreshing dose of emotional intelligence.

https://seon.io/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/pjrohall/

Cyber Defense eMagazine – January 2023 Edition 123
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