Coldplay concert ticket scam: BookMyShow chief summoned over alleged fraud

Mumbai Police's Economic Offences Wing (EOW) questioned Anil Makhija for close to seven hours on Monday (30 September) regarding an alleged ticket scam for upcoming Coldplay concerts in January 2025. Makhija is the COO of Big Tree Entertainment, which is the parent company of BookMyShow.

Vyas's complaint to the EOW alleged that BookMyShow had tied-upwith ticket reselling platforms such as Viagogo to black-market the concert tickets. Fans took to social media to express their disappointment and disbelief, stating that the tickets for the concert were sold for lakhs of rupees on unofficial websites.

A police officer from the EOW said, "We questioned Anil Makhija, COO of Big Tree Entertainment, for seven hours. We had summoned the CEO, Ashish Hemrajani, however he sent Makhija. We questioned him and are trying to understand the entire matter. He has given answers to our questions (and) we will analyse them and then decide the further course of action."

The complaint said, "The sale of the concert tickets was controlled by BookMyShow in such a manner that the genuine customers... were intentionally logged out of the platform seconds before 12 noon [on 22 September], the time when the tickets went live, or were not allowed to access the platform to buy tickets for the concert."

Further adding, "However, simultaneously, the tickets were made available to Viagogo in bulk, which started black-marketing these tickets at very high prices. A ticket which was sold atINR 2,500 [on BookMyShow] was sold atINR 96,300 [on reselling platforms], which went up toINR 2,50,000."

The concerts arescheduled to take place in Mumbai’s DY Patil Stadium in the month of January 2025. However, since the tickets were sold out last week rapidly; the overwhelming response crashed BookMyShow’s app and website for a short while, right before the tickets went live at noon on 22 September.

In response to these allegations, a BookMyShow spokesperson earlier said, "It came to our notice that unauthorised platforms listed (and are continuing to list) tickets for Coldplay's Music Of The Spheres World Tour 2025 in India, both before and after the official sale. BookMyShow has no association with any such unauthorised ticket selling/reselling platforms including but not limited to Viagogo and Gigsberg or third-party individuals for the purpose of reselling Coldplay's Music Of The Spheres World Tour 2025 in India."

The spokesperson further emphasised, "Scalping and black marketing of tickets is strictly condemned and punishable by law in India and BookMyShow vehemently opposes this practice. We have not only filed a complaint with the police authorities but are also proactively working with them to provide complete support in the investigation of this matter in any manner that may be required."

The company also cautioned consumers, highlighting, "To our consumers, we would like to reiterate that any tickets bought from unauthorised sources will be at their own risk and may likely be invalid or fake tickets."