Ticketing sites are under constant surveillance by sophisticated networks of seat mappers, scrapers and pricing bots — even for low-demand shows and events. If this is a growing concern for you, INTIX 2026 will feature a workshop that explores the disturbing reality of round-the-clock bot operations and shows why understanding this hidden ecosystem is critical to safeguarding your inventory.
Titled “Always Watching: 24/7 Bot Activity and What It Means for Your On-Sale Strategy,” the presentation will drawing from real-world data and frontline experience in bot mitigation to show the human networks orchestrating these automated attacks. Attendees will not only learn why bots monitor your inventory, they’ll also be shown how residential proxies have fundamentally changed the game and what the rise of so-called “cook groups” tells us about resale psychology. Most importantly, attendees will learn how to “flip the script” and implement proactive strategies designed to outmaneuver and beat adversaries at their own game.
Jake Grimley
CrowdHandler CEO Jake Grimley will lead the workshop. He says, “Attendees will leave with a clearer understanding of the bot ecosystem and what they’re actually looking at when they see bot activity. Most ticketing professionals know the bot problem is growing and are frustrated by speculative selling, but they don’t have a firm grasp on the mechanics of how bots actually work. When you observe strange traffic patterns, it can be confusing because you’re seeing facets of a much larger ecosystem — scrapers, seat mappers, pricing bots, account farms — all working together in ways that aren’t immediately obvious.”
He continues, “This workshop decodes that ecosystem. You’ll learn what each type of bot is actually doing, why they’re on your site and practical strategies to disrupt their operations and protect your inventory before tickets even drop.”
Grimley says INTIX members and conference attendees should be very concerned with the likely constant bot surveillance happening on their sites, especially between on-sales. “Concerned, but not panicked,” he states. “The key is understanding what information you’re exposing and whether that’s strategic.”
Data collected by bots between major on-sales can make them more effective when tickets go live. But Grimley notes that CrowdHandler has plenty of clients selling regional concerts that don’t sell out, who still see persistent bot traffic. Why? Because their data feeds aggregator sites that list tickets speculatively.
“Here’s something that surprises people,” Grimley notes. “Sometimes when you’re detecting bots during an on-sale, they’re not actually targeting that event. It’s just general background bot traffic getting swept up in your on-sale detection. Understanding this distinction is critical to building effective defenses.”
So, how difficult — both from a technical standpoint and a changing of the mindset — is it to reduce the volume and sophistication of attacks? Grimley says the technical side is a constantly moving challenge. “The real hurdle is the mindset shift from reactive to proactive defense. Most organizations scramble during on-sales, then relax. Breaking that cycle means monitoring year-round and understanding you’re not trying to be invincible . . . you're trying to be harder to exploit than the next site. If your site costs more in proxies, CAPTCHA-solving and human effort than competitors’, many scalpers will move on.” After all, they are running businesses with slim margins too.
He says there are several things INTIX members can do to make their sites “less easy” targets for bot operations: “First, think strategically about what information you’re exposing. Are you willing to make more elements of the user journey private to restrict bot access? Deploy challenges early — when users are browsing, not buying. This identifies bots when stakes are lower and forces scalpers to burn through expensive CAPTCHA-solving services just to gather intelligence.
Grimley is the ideal professional to lead this workshop. His company is a waiting room platform designed for easy integration into ticketing and retail websites. He says, “The minute you solve the crash problem, you discover you have a bot problem. Bots shift their numbers game from the order process to the queue. So, we’ve built extensive anti-bot measures and tools into the product.”
Many of CrowdHandler’s clients use the firm’s services in an always-on configuration to protect against unexpected spikes. Grimley concludes, “When you understand what drives bot operators — slim margins, community status, fear of “eating” unsold tickets — you can design defenses that exploit their weaknesses.”
Editor’s Note: Come to INTIX 2026 in Las Vegas to ignite success and dive deeper into the future of live event ticketing and operations. Register now to be part of the 47th Annual Conference & Exhibition!
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