I have heard that such things have long been the work of computer hackers, blocking all traffic except their own, until they've grabbed the tickets they want. I don't know if there is any truth to such rumours, but it wouldn't surprise me, based on some of the things I've observed in the past - and stories like KansaiPJ's above.
On the other hand... I once managed to "guess" the web address for the ticket sales of a major figure skating event, some time before it was publically announced. It was operational, except for allowing ticket payments to complete... and before they locked it down in preparation for opening to the public... I was able to see that swathes of seats had been pre-allocated or pre-sold, long before they went on public sale - either for tour companies etc, or delayed release, or perhaps for more "shady" purposes? In that instance, most of the best seats were never available to the public from the start of sales.
In any case, as long as there are huge profits to be made from buying up tickets by whatever means, and reselling them... it invites "problems"...
There should be a system that prevents resale - except at face value, back to the official ticket office. The office then makes them available again to the public. It's not impossible - they did something like that for the 2012 London Olympics. I don't think it was entirely successful, but surely a move in the right direction in my opinion.
Unfortunately, I suspect such things are not in the best interests of the those currently in control of the tickets sales, for figure skating in places like Japan... so...
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