Investigation: Inside the queue-jumping trade: a restaurant booking sells for 300 yuan

• Bookings openly priced: 200 to 300 yuan for a prime weekend slot
• Our test: 216 places taken within four seconds of release, by the same cluster of accounts
• Platforms say a clean-up is under way and device fingerprinting is coming

A three-week undercover investigation found that online ticketing systems at popular restaurants are being taken over by scripts, leaving ordinary diners with almost no chance of booking.