Automated bots are buying concert tickets and train reservations before humans can finish typing their credit card numbers. This is apparently a problem worth solving. Not inflation. Not the fact that a train ticket in 2026 costs more than a used Honda. Bots.
The scalping industry has moved from guys in trench coats outside Madison Square Garden to algorithmic purchasing systems that complete transactions in milliseconds. Progress. These bots bypass CAPTCHAs, rotate IP addresses, and defeat every security measure Ticketmaster's engineering team half-heartedly deployed between lunch breaks. The result is a secondary market where Taylor Swift tickets cost more than the GDP of small nations.
But here's the part nobody wants to say out loud. The bots aren't the problem. They're just better at playing a game that was rigged from the start. Venues release 60% of tickets to fan clubs, credit card holders, and Spotify Premium members before the general public gets a shot. Then they act shocked when the remaining 40% vanishes in four seconds.
Ticketmaster could fix this tomorrow. They won't. Because they own StubHub's biggest competitor and collect fees on both the initial sale and the resale. It's a brilliant scam. Blame the bots. Hire a consultant. Write a press release about "fighting for fans." Then collect 30% on every transaction while retail suckers refresh the page like lab rats hitting a pellet dispenser.
Train companies are even worse. They cry about bot-driven reservation theft while running 1990s booking systems that crash when more than twelve people log in simultaneously. Fix your infrastructure or admit you like the chaos because it justifies price surges.
The bots are winning because the humans running these companies want them to win.
Photo by Andrew Arrol on Unsplash
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