profiteers are hoping to make a quick franc by buying up lots of tickets.
Keystone-SDA
Select your language
Generated with artificial intelligence.
Listening: Touts target European Song Contest tickets
The Eurovision Song Contest shows are in high demand, with the result that profiteers are hoping to make a quick franc by buying up lots of tickets. The Swiss organisers are making life difficult for them as best they can.
This content was published on
2 minutes
Keystone-SDA
Deutsch
de
Unbekannte versuchen mit angehäuften ESC-Tickets Geld zu machen
Original
Before the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) in Basel in May, some people are trying to make money by buying up tickets en masse. Hundreds of thousands of fake accounts have been used to pre-register for tickets for the shows. Thomas Pittino, head of marketing at the ESC, told Swiss public broadcaster, SRF.
Almost 500,000 registrations have been received. However, only around 50,000 to 60,000 seats are available for visitors at the nine planned shows. “You have to assume that between a third and half of the registrations are bots, i.e. fake accounts,” said Pittino. These will now be filtered out, he said.
Registration expired on January 10 at midnight. Those who are successfully registered will be able to buy their first tickets from 10am on January 29. They cost between CHF40 ($44) and CHF350.
SRF is organising the song competition this year because Nemo won for Switzerland last year. Currently 38 countries are taking part. The final will take place on May 17 in Basel’s St. Jakobshalle.
Translated from German by DeepL/ts
This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles.
If you want to know more about how we work, have a look here, if you want to learn more about how we use technology, click here, and if you have feedback on this news story please write to english@swissinfo.ch.
Popular Stories
More
Swiss Politics
In Switzerland, New Year brings ‘burka ban’ and pension hikes
Have you heard something about Swiss diplomacy that you’d like us to fact check?
Not all information circulating about Switzerland’s foreign relations is accurate or well understood. Tell us what you'd like us to fact check or clarify.
Former Swiss finance minister slams report on Credit Suisse collapse
This content was published on
Former Swiss Finance Minister Ueli Maurer has criticised a parliamentary report on UBS's takeover of Credit Suisse, rejecting accusations that he hid the seriousness of the situation from the government.
This content was published on
Researchers in Zurich have developed an electricity-free dehumidifier. It is a building element that allows walls and ceilings to absorb moisture from the air and store it temporarily.
Swiss man found dead in Iranian prison had allegedly collected soil samples
This content was published on
The Swiss man who died in an Iranian prison is said to have secretly taken soil samples beforehand, according to Iranian media.
This content was published on
Hackers have attacked the Swiss federal administration. Among other things, telephones, email and various federal websites and specialist applications were affected.
More and more Swiss celebrities and institutions leaving X
This content was published on
The short messaging service X has also lost its reputation in Switzerland. More and more personalities and institutions are turning their backs on tech billionaire Elon Musk's platform.
Driver going wrong way causes accident in Gotthard tunnel
This content was published on
A 76-year-old driver going in the wrong direction caused a head-on collision on the A2 motorway in canton Uri on Friday. Five people were injured.
Opponents of Crans-Montana ski work appeal to Federal Court
This content was published on
Opponents of the new finishing area stadium for the national piste in Crans-Montana, site of the 2027 Alpine World Ski Championships, have appealed to the Swiss Federal Court.
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.