Major Theater Ticket Fraud Scheme Exposed in Russia
The Investigative Committee of Russia (ICR) has completed a two-year investigation into a large-scale operation involving the sale of tickets to the country’s leading theaters through fake websites. The scammers aggressively promoted their services using black-hat SEO techniques and profited by selling tickets at prices much higher than the official rates.
According to Kommersant, the investigation began after the management of the Mariinsky Theater contacted law enforcement upon discovering that their tickets were being sold through cloned versions of mariinsky.ru. These duplicate sites copied the style and branding of the official theater website but were hosted in the .com domain zone. To ensure these sites appeared at the top of search results, the scammers purchased advertising spots or manipulated rankings by altering cache data.
Following an inspection, the central office of the ICR opened a criminal case under Part 4 of Article 180 of the Russian Criminal Code (causing significant damage through the illegal use of others’ brands as part of an organized group). It was later revealed that the scammers used the same tactics to divert customers from the Bolshoi and Maly Theaters, RAMT, the Theater of Nations, and the Tchaikovsky Conservatory.
Tickets were purchased through regular channels, but resold to theatergoers and music lovers at several times the original price. Notably, the specialized company at the center of the case—founded in 2013 by main suspects Andrey Kharatnyuk and Alexey Kurinov—initially operated legally.
Three years later, according to investigators, the owners of Simple Life Innovation decided to increase their profits by cloning theater websites and hiring designers, programmers, and advertising specialists. Call centers were set up in Moscow and Vladimir to interact with customers.
According to the ICR, more than twenty companies were involved in this network, including “Multi,” “DEZ Service,” “Show Market,” “Can’t Do Without Us,” “Eurotickets,” and “Your Ticket.” Interestingly, the ticket scam office was located in Moscow at 19 Petrovka Street, near the city’s main police department.
Law enforcement reports that the total turnover of the fraudulent network exceeded 1 billion rubles. The illegal activity drew the attention of authorities after customers began complaining to theaters about exorbitant prices and poor service from resellers.
As the scale of the ticket scam became clear, the criminal case was expanded to include Article 159 of the Russian Criminal Code (Part 4, large-scale group fraud). In late January 2021, the court approved the arrest of Kurinov, who was serving as director of Simple Life.
The heads of other companies involved in the scheme have also mostly been detained, except for the organizer of the illegal business, Kharatnyuk, and his mother, who was responsible for legal and financial operations. Both have been placed on the international wanted list.
The cloned websites of the affected theaters have almost completely disappeared from the internet, and ticket sales through these sites have stopped. The Mariinsky Theater plans to file a lawsuit seeking 50 million rubles in damages from the scammers.