Liverpool ticket tout crackdown yields £1.2m seizure and 400 lifetime bans

Liverpool and Merseyside Police have seized more than £1.2 million (US$1.6 million) in assets related to organised ticket touting, with more than 400 lifetime bans issued, the Premier League club announced on Wednesday.

The latest operation aimed to "protect genuine fans from being ripped off or scammed," the club said. Three touting cases have been handled in the past 12 months, with two resulting in convictions and one due in court next month.

Ticket touting – buying tickets and reselling them at inflated prices – has been illegal in England since the 1994 Criminal Justice and Public Order Act.

During the 2025-26 season, 432 lifetime bans were issued, 383 of which were to "All Red" members. The club also handed down 115 "indefinite suspensions," which carry a minimum three-year term. Both sanctions include a right to appeal.

The "vast majority" of bans resulted from the unauthorised selling of season tickets, membership or hospitality tickets, which contravenes club terms.

Last season, an average of 300 "targeted stops" per home match prevented accounts with suspicious activity from entering the ground. Over 700,000 ticket registrations were analysed, with 67,663 suspected fake accounts blocked and 121,379 accounts under investigation.

Liverpool holds a zero-tolerance approach to touting, having issued 1,114 lifetime bans last year.

𝗗𝗼𝘄𝗻𝗹𝗼𝗮𝗱 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝗔𝗽𝗽 ↓