Landing a ticket to sought-after events in Scotland once boiled down to a single issue - survival of the fittest.

Fans would camp outside box office doors in endless queues, braving volatile weather while wrapped in sleeping bags, maybe sipping the odd cup of Bovril.

But the growth of online sales has brought the battle indoors, where prospective buyers wait with fingers poised above their computer mouse for the nanosecond tickets are released.

With the changing market, the practice of touting has become more prevalent in recent years, where tickets to art, music and sport events are harvested by buyers and resold for several times their face value.

In the last year alone, Scottish fans have watched in outrage as tickets they were unable to secure have appeared on resale sites such as Get Me In (owned by Ticketmaster), Seatwave (also owned by Ticketmaster) and StubHub (owned by eBay).

Radiohead tickets were recently reported to have been priced at £3900 on Viagogo, a drop in the ocean compared to Adele tickets offered at £24,000.

Adele's 26,000-seat Hydro show in Glasgow sold out within two minutes - and hour later touts had posted the on GetMeIn for as much as £609.

Sporting events are also subject to touting, an industry reportedly worth £1.4bn a year, with sellers offering tickets to the Davis Cup featuring Andy Murray at the Emirates Arena in Glasgow for £1399.

The Rugby World Cup, the Ashes cricket contest and the football's European Championships have also fallen prey to ticket harvesting.

An inquiry on ticket re-sellers conducted by the New York attorney general's office reported illegal software called bots was used by online touts to sweep up vast numbers of tickets and prevent fans from buying them.

Bots acquired an estimated 60% of all available tickets this way for a number of high-profile gigs, the report said.

With no cap on ticket resale prices in the UK, sellers are free to post items for hundreds of times their original face value.

The Daily Record recently crowned 25-year-old Andrew Newman as the biggest tout in Scotland, whose company owns assets reportedly worth £2.3m.

Newman uses computers to harvest the best of concert and sporting tickets, exploits that were outlined in submissions to Professor Michael Waterson, of Warwick University.

While a government review has said current measures are "inadequate", touting is still legal in the UK.

There is a section in the Consumer Rights Act 2015 which directly refers to secondary ticketing which says the seller must ensure the buyer is given specific information, among other requirements.

A number of big-name British artists have been at the forefront of tout criticism as disgruntled fans complain about "shocking" ticket prices.

Adele has dubbed touts "terrible people" and vowed to pay back anyone who bought a ticket for £24,000.

Sir Elton John has branded the practice "disgraceful", telling the BBC "I'd rather have empty seats."

Arctic Monkeys, One Direction, Florence + the Machine, Ed Sheeran and Iron Maiden have all spoken out against "scalpers" in a joint statement signed by their management.

The late Prince went one step further, pulling ticket sale dates for Glasgow, London and Birmingham in November 2015 amid fears that ticket touts were cashing in.

In support of one fan who complained about ticket prices online, the singer-songwriter tweeted this cryptic message:

Earlier this year, Mumford and Sons launched an anti-tout petition, supported by One Direction and Little Mix, which has so far garnered more than 43,000 signatures.

The band said: "We are joining with others across the music and creative communities to support a petition that demands politicians tighten up consumer legislation."

The petition claims that touting "deprives the Treasury of VAT, and performance copyright holders of royalties that should be paid on the mark-ups.

"It also denies artistes the ability to ensure their events are priced so anyone can attend."

There has been an emergence of "ethical" ticket resale sites such as Scarlet Mist and Twickets, which enables ticket-holders to resell for face value or less, but MPs, academics and industry officials are calling for further action.

The UK Government published its Consumer Rights Act review in May, which called for ticket sites to take more action to prevent touts harvesting tickets.

The review encourages more sellers to introduce ID requirements, praising Glastonbury's ticketing model, where tickets are "deliberately personalised" and ID is checked at the gates.

But T in the Park organisers say this method would result in long queues at major events and would "upset the customer".

Another suggestion in the review backed further intervention by Trading Standards when secondary ticket sites breach the rules.

Meanwhile, ideas such as a 10% cap on ticket resale prices or an outright ban on resales were dismissed.

Capping would be "difficult" for police and a ban would encourage a ticket black market, according to the report.

Scottish politicians say the review does not go far enough in its recommendations.

Glasgow Central MP Alison Thewliss said: "Scottish legislation would be a good option if no action is taken at Westminster, but it's a global ticket market. There needs to be concerted EU action to make sure all consumers are protected."

DF Concerts and T in the Park chief executive Geoff Ellis says after unsuccessfully campaigning for legislative change against fleecing, we should not expect the government to make moves to protect fans.

Instead, Ellis thinks dynamic pricing is the solution, which could give companies the flexibility to change the price of tickets according to market demand.

He said: "I've never liked touts, they're the bane of every concertgoers life. But you can't stop people buying from touts.

"If you buy a ticket from a secondary market you should be well aware of what the original price was. But I think dynamic pricing is the way to go, and if someone wants to buy a ticket a week up front before the show, they should be paying more than the person who bought them a year up front."