Ticket touts ordered to pay £6m after profiteering from sales to see acts like Ed Sheeran

Peter Hunter, 53, and David Thomas Smith, 68, were prosecuted and jailed in February 2020 after being found guilty of fraudulent trading. Now, following a hearing at Leeds Crown Court, the pair have three months to repay £6.1m or face an extra eight years in prison.

The two men bought and re-sold hundreds of tickets under inflated prices, using different names and IP addresses through their multi-million pound company BZZ Ltd.

They were brought to justice following a major investigation by the National Trading Standards (NTS) eCrime Team, hosted by North Yorkshire County Council and York Council, alongside the Yorkshire and Humber Regional Economic Crime Unit (RECU).

The confiscation order has been handed down in a landmark ruling which found they benefited from their crimes by a total of £8.75m.

Ruth Andrews, regional investigations manager for NTS, said she hoped this case may mark significant change.

“All too often fans looking to buy tickets to sport events, music concerts and other high-profile events find that official tickets sell out in minutes before reappearing on secondary ticketing sites at vastly inflated prices," she said.

“The defendants have learnt again today that crime does not pay and their futures have been irrevocably damaged by their criminal behaviour as a result. We hope this sends a message to all those who chose to engage in fraud that there are severe consequences.”

Between May 2010 and December 2017 the pair, using at least 97 different names, 88 postal addresses and more than 290 email addresses, would buy multiple tickets from sellers like Ticketmaster, the court had been told, before selling them on.

This meant that BZZ Limited was fraudulently competing with consumers while listing those tickets for sale at a higher price.

On one occasion, in 2017, they bought 750 tickets to see Ed Sheeran. They also engaged in fraudulent trading by listing tickets for sale that they had not purchased and did not own, NTS said.

The pair were sentenced on four counts, with Hunter to serve four years in prison and Smith 30 months. Their appeals were rejected last November.

Ramona Senior, unit head for the RECU warned that ticket touting drives inflated prices that impact directly on fans.

"She said: "Illegal and organised ticket touting can be extremely lucrative as the sheer size of these orders demonstrate. It creates demand where one might otherwise not exist, driving the public into the hands of the secondary market and forcing them to pay significantly inflated prices. Today’s orders indicate that those making large profits from an illegal activity can expect the full weight of the law to be applied to them.”