Its minister, Salahuddin Ayub, said the ministry would investigate the matter under the Consumer Protection Act 1999 (Act 599) if reports were lodged.

“Whatever it is, if you want to watch (concerts), be wise and don’t pay RM43,000. That is unreasonable,” he said after attending the International French Exhibition and Conference Malaysia 2023.

Salahuddin also advised the public to purchase tickets through legitimate sources to avoid becoming victims of scalpers.

“I believe the Malaysian people are smart. Don’t buy from scalpers, buy from authorised agents,” he said.

Coldplay fans have taken to Twitter to vent their frustrations after failing to buy tickets for the concert scheduled to be held at the Bukit Jalil National Stadium in Kuala Lumpur on Nov 22.

Ticket sales started on Tuesday.

News spread on social media about accounts on various platforms selling the tickets for many times the original prices and some advertisements were said to be offering tickets for the concert for as much as RM43,000.

Communications and digital minister Fahmi Fadzil had instructed the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) to take action over the online resale of tickets for the concert.

Fahmi added that he would be discussing the issue with Salahuddin.

Regulating ticket sales

Meanwhile, Muda co-founder Lim Wei Jiet suggested that there should be laws to punish those using ticketing bots to buy tickets.

“Is using bots to buy tickets in bulk and scalping illegal in Malaysia? No, but we should definitely enact (the appropriate) legislation (for this issue),” Lim said in a Twitter post.

“The US has its Better Online Ticket Sales (BOTS) Act 2016, which punishes parties that automate purchasing tickets en masse using ticket bots.”