Liverpool touts lose £1.2m in police crackdown

Liverpool Football Club has issued 432 lifetime bans and 115 indefinite suspensions after a police operation seized more than £1.2 million in assets from organised ticket touts. The crackdown, executed alongside Merseyside Police, targeted the laundering of criminal proceeds derived from illicit ticket sales both online and inside the stadium.

The seized funds were split between Merseyside Police and the Home Office, highlighting the scale of the black market surrounding top-tier European football. Detective Chief Inspector Nick Suffield said: "This is a fantastic example of partnership working between ourselves and Liverpool Football Club for the good of the fans and the general public." "We will always take action to protect genuine fans who fall victim to touts when all they are trying to do is simply purchase tickets to support their team."

The asset seizure represents the tangible outcome of a broader, data-driven purge of the club's ticketing platform. During the previous season, Liverpool analysed almost 700,000 ticket registrations. This process resulted in the blocking or cancellation of 67,663 suspected fake accounts, with a further 121,379 accounts remaining under investigation.

This recent police action builds on aggressive account closures, with the club having shut down 145,000 ticket accounts over the prior two years. For the 2025-26 season, Liverpool has already cancelled 3,847 tickets due to suspicious purchase activity. These tickets were returned to general admission, increasing the supply of legitimate inventory for actual supporters.

Physical enforcement has also scaled up to match the digital crackdown. The club now conducts an average of 300 targeted stops per home game at Anfield. These checks, which also occur at away Premier League and European matches, prevent individuals linked to suspicious accounts from entering the turnstiles.