Liverpool issues record bans after £1.2m ticket touting seizure

Liverpool FC handed out a record 1,114 lifetime bans last season after Merseyside Police seized more than £1.2m in assets linked to illegal ticket selling, a crackdown aimed at protecting supporters from touts and scams around Anfield.

The club said almost half of those lifetime bans followed the discovery of mass manipulation of software, a sign of how organised ticket abuse has moved beyond individuals reselling a spare seat. The total marked a huge rise from 75 lifetime bans in the 2023-24 season, while Liverpool FC also said it shut down close to 100,000 fake ticketing accounts and issued 136 indefinite suspensions in that campaign.

Liverpool said the majority of lifetime bans and indefinite suspensions were imposed for unauthorised selling of season tickets, memberships or hospitality. That pattern points to a market built around access, with tickets and memberships treated as commodities to be stripped from genuine fans and pushed into secondary channels at inflated prices.

The police operation adds another layer to the clampdown. Liverpool FC said it worked with Merseyside Police in an operation that led to the seizure of the assets, part of an ongoing effort to tackle ticket touting both online and on the ground. The club has framed the action as a direct response to fans being targeted and scammed, not just outside the stadium but through digital networks designed to evade detection.

One recent case showed how that activity played out on the street. Abdelmohaimen Mohamed, from Manchester, was banned from games for three years after targeting Liverpool supporters from the Middle East. Merseyside Police said Mohamed was spotted on CCTV “meeting and greeting” punters on Paisley Square in Liverpool.

Liverpool’s figures suggest the club is hitting the touting trade at several pressure points at once: account closures, indefinite suspensions, lifetime bans and police asset seizures. Whether that closes down resale activity or simply forces it into harder-to-police channels will shape access for supporters around Anfield in the seasons ahead.