Shamless scalpers are making big bucks by marking up tickets to a star-studded benefit concert for victims of Hurricane Sandy.
Tickets for the “12-12-12 Concert for Sandy Relief” at Madison Square Garden — with face values between $150 and $2,500 — are being resold online for as much as $60,000.
“The scalpers should get their asses handed to them! They should be publicly shamed,” said Bill Hind, 44, of Brooklyn, who has volunteered at hard-hit New Dorp Beach, Staten Island, for weeks. “How dare you make money off someone else’s misery?”
Michael Sullivan, whose family was displaced from Breezy Point by the storm, was equally disgusted — yet not surprised the scalpers would try to turn a profit on the backs of Sandy survivors.
“They would sell tickets to their mother’s funeral if they could get a deal,” Sullivan, 51, said.
Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) sounded the alarm on Thursday.
“I find it appalling that scalpers are trying to profit off this charitable concert,” Schumer wrote to StubHub and TicketLiquidator.
The senator called on the resale sites to stop listing tickets for the concert at prices above the face value of the ducat “unless that person is willing to donate all money from its sale.”
The concert will feature the likes of Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen, Kanye West and Billy Joel. Proceeds from the sale of the highly coveted tickets will go to the charitable group, the Robin Hood Relief Fund.
Sullivan said the concert was a common topic of conversation, as his Queens neighborhood struggles to rebuild.
“My kids, my wife, my plumber — they all want to go! They all need relief, just to get their minds clear,” he said. “But who has the tickets? Not the people who need the relief!”
The fiasco amounted to a slap in the face to the most vulnerable.
“If you suffered, you can’t get a ticket to go see a concert for the victims of the storm, which is what you are!” said a fuming Hind.
On StubHub, resold tickets start at $553. Of that, 75% goes to the scalper. StubHub takes the other 25%, which it donates to the Robin Hood Relief Fund.
“The resale of tickets is going to take place on our site or somewhere else,” said Glenn Lehrman, a spokesman for the company. “At least on our site our proceeds go to charity.”
He added that sales on StubHub for the Madison Square Garden gala that will also feature Eddie Vedder, Dave Grohl, Alicia Keys and Eric Clapton had already yielded $300,000.
But Ticketmaster — often viewed as a villain in the ticket marketplace — barred users from posting tickets to the event on its resale sites, TicketsNow and TicketExchange.
“No one but the Robin Hood Foundation should profit from this event,” Ticketmaster spokeswoman Jacqueline Peterson said.
The situation likely won’t sit well with one of the show’s headliners — Springsteen. Last year, The Boss blasted scalpers and Ticketmaster after his Jersey faithful were redirected to a resale site when trying to buy tickets to his concerts at face value.
None of the performers could be reached for comment. Spokespeople for Madison Square Garden, the Robin Hood Foundation and Clear Channel Media didn’t responded to requests for comment.
At least 25 theaters in New York and New Jersey will simulcast the concert for free beginning at 7:30 p.m.
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