Taylor Swift’s Law: Scalper bots drive illegal ticket sales

The bill which provides for severe penalties of up to three years in prison and a fine has been approved by the House

At the end of April the Chamber of Deputies approved the Taylor Swift bill, which provides for severe penalties of up to three years in prison and a fine and suggests new types of crimes regarding the practice of currency exchange, placing emphasis on the environment digital.

“The huge increase in consumer mobile app use over the past 12 months has been accompanied by an even more dramatic increase in scams, including click fraud practices such as the use of bots to make quick purchases and for high volume how cybercriminal scalpers capitalize on the huge amounts of money flowing through the illegal sale of tickets or merchandise at prices other than the official ones,” explains Chris Roeckl, chief product officer at Appdome.

The Global Consumer Expectations report from Appdome, the one-stop shop for mobile app advocacy, finds that more than half of people (51.8%) prefer to use mobile devices to shop online rather than on web channels. A recent ClickCease study estimated that mobile click fraud costs advertisers and manufacturers more than $24 billion, and that figure will increase 64% by 2023.

Click fraud and sneakerbots

Click fraud occurs whenever fake or illegitimate clicks are made, either in an attempt to gain credit for a successful action in which you did not participate, or by generating completely fabricated clicks where there is no real intent or interest in the product or service. In all cases, the motivation for click fraud is money.

According to Roeckl, there are many different methods and techniques that scammers use to generate fake clicks. Most often, click fraud is carried out through automated programs such as bots, which are automated software programs created specifically to generate large volumes of clicks.

In the sneakerbot method, purchases are automated to get high-demand tickets or products, and once they’re sold out, virtual scalpers charge sky-high prices with huge profit margins for shoppers desperate for the limited ticket or product after missing out to obtain it. It. .

Just like in events, fashion shows and shows, even in the world of sneakers, famous brands such as Nike, Adidas and New Balance are heavily affected by being constantly attacked by bots. When launching limited editions, the speed of clicks made by bots programmed by hackers causes the products to sell out in minutes, a bot can take up to 3 seconds to complete the process, in other words they gain huge advantages over click speed real buyers, this way it is easy to resell them to collectors who would pay much higher prices for the desired pieces, generating huge profits for hackers.

Recommendations against the use of bots

Regarding the sale of tickets outside authorized venues at a higher price than the set price, the bill now under consideration in the Senate is a legislative effort to counteract the methods of cyber attacks on the purchase of tickets for shows and events.

In this way, the project seeks to ensure that fans have a better chance of purchasing tickets at reasonable prices, rather than being beaten out by automated programs, but Roeckl warns that companies and brands must also actively combat the threats, along with government actions.

The Appdome report also revealed that 56.2% of consumers said that brands and app developers should be responsible for ensuring a safe experience for those who use them.

“In addition to compromising websites due to the high traffic generated, bots also influence the prices of products on the market. When the stock expires, the product is resold at a higher price than the initial one. Therefore, due to the rise of bots serving scalpers in recent years, e-commerce businesses must turn to advanced cybersecurity solutions to protect themselves. In these solutions, bots can be fought using tools capable of detecting fraud,” emphasizes Helder Ferrão, industrial marketing manager at Akamai in Latin America.

The Appdome expert agrees when he explains that implementing robust security measures and protecting the user from cyber attacks must be the responsibility of the developer and the mobile brand.

“Today, you can use solutions that offer bot detection, rapid defense and comprehensive intelligence for both web and mobile applications, such as MobileBot Defense. Developers can also use geofencing to ensure that only local users can transact. In the world of click fraud, everyone loses except the scammers, so no effort should be spared when it comes to security,” he concludes.

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Source: Terra

Earl

Earl Johnson is a music writer at Gossipify, known for his in-depth analysis and unique perspective on the industry. A graduate of USC with a degree in Music, he brings years of experience and passion to his writing. He covers the latest releases and trends, always on the lookout for the next big thing in music.