Ever since pre-sales for K-pop icon G-Dragon (권지용)’s upcoming concert in Kuala Lumpur went live, all hell broke loose. Concert organiser Star Planet has faced heavy backlash after fans discovered that the majority of pre-sale tickets had been purchased in bulk by foreign buyers using a bypass. In addition, both local and international scalpers have already begun reselling the tickets online.
Speaking of scalpers, two individuals stood out for entirely different reasons. One openly admitted to their illegal activity, while the other didn’t try hard enough to convince a fan to buy a ticket. Here’s what happened:
Let’s begin with the more light-hearted case. G-Dragon fans have been actively warning others about scalpers, as they could potentially be scammers. One local Twitter user, @/95sflo, shared a screenshot of a DM (Direct Message) they received from a scalper who attempted to trick them into buying Category 3 (CAT 3) tickets for the idol’s two-day “Übermensch” concert at Axiata Arena.
However, the scalper’s message made it obvious that they are a foreigner, as they had used a translation tool without checking if the translated text was accurate. The DM read: “Adakah anda masih berminat dengan ticket kucing 3?”, a sentence in which the short-form “CAT” had been mistranslated to “kucing”, the Malay word for “cat”, as in the animal. This led to the fan’s hilarious response, asking if the scalper was selling an “oyen” (orange cat).
The post quickly went viral, with many amused by the scalper’s failed attempt to deceive the Twitter user. Even TV presenter Hani Fadzil found the situation hilarious. A few suggested that Malaysian fans respond in their regional dialects to confuse foreign scammers, who may be relying on translation tools to convince potential victims.
As for the other viral scalper, many took to Twitter to expose an individual named Aqil Zubir, who fans claimed to be notorious for running an unauthorised ticketing service. He posted on his Instagram Story that he had successfully bulk-purchased G-Dragon tickets and planned to resell them at RM900 above the original price. One fan managed to show their conversation with the scalper, where he admitted to using a bypass to secure the pre-sale tickets.
Aqil has since made his account private after receiving backlash from fans over his unauthorised ticket purchases. At the time of writing, Star Planet has still yet to address the ticketing and scalping issues, despite being bombarded with messages from fans online. Let’s hope the situation doesn’t get worse during the General Sales that will go live tomorrow (Thursday, 29th May) from 2pm onwards.
