TOKYO (TR) – Tokyo Metropolitan Police have arrested a 61-year-old company employee from Chiba Prefecture for allegedly scalping premium baseball tickets, including matches for the World Baseball Classic (WBC), reports NHK (June 30).
Yuji Suzue, a resident of Funabashi City, is accused of violating the Ticket Resale Restriction Law. According to police, Suzue illegally resold three tickets for highly anticipated games held at Tokyo Dome.
The scalped tickets included passes to a WBC matchup between Japan and the Czech Republic, as well as an exhibition game between the Los Angeles Dodgers — featuring superstar Shohei Ohtani — and the Hanshin Tigers.
Police revealed that the WBC tickets were fenced online for approximately 12.5 times their standard face value.
Upon his arrest, Suzue admitted to the allegations. “I wanted to use the money from reselling the tickets I won to fund tickets for games I actually wanted to watch,” he told investigators.
However, authorities believe the three tickets are just the tip of the iceberg. Police allege that between April 2023 and March of this year, Suzue operated a lucrative side hustle, scalping a total of 297 baseball tickets.
Investigators say he marked up some tickets by as much as 40 times their original price, raking in an estimated 2.43 million yen in illicit profits. Police are continuing their investigation into the full extent of his scalping operations.
