Tax authorities will conduct an investigation for the first time into 17 suspected ticket scalpers and related organizations of monopolizing sales of concert and sports game tickets and tax evasion.

At a press briefing on Thursday, Ahn Deok-soo, head of investigation at the National Tax Service, said the probe will focus on those highly suspected of dodging taxes among illegal dealers who allegedly post annual sales exceeding such data by the top one-percent bracket.

The tax official said the 17 dealers in question include a public official and a private school teacher, both in their mid-30s, who have allegedly reaped illegal income totaling at least 400 million won and 300 million won, or around 276-thousand and 207-thousand U.S. dollars, respectively.

The tax agency suspects that the amount of undeclared scalpers’ tickets is worth at least 22 billion won.

Some of the typical methods include ticket resales with premium on online platforms, with the dealers allegedly reselling more than 40-thousand tickets priced up to 30 times the original price.

To avoid leaving a record of their transactions, payments were transferred to personal accounts, after which the postings were deleted without completing the sale.

Others resold the tickets by proxy, or directly sold a macro program in a bid to disperse legal responsibility.