Scalpers perform a social service by rationing demand and ensuring availability. They don't eat the whole consumer surplus, rather, they must compete amongst themselves and the price you pay is the amount that makes client N+1 walk away if total supply is N. Some of the buyers will find that close to their margin, but others, for which the product is essential in very valuable (thus socially useful) goods or services, will thank God they have found the supply.
Think about hospitals paying 10 times more for antiseptic and performing surgeries, instead of someone drenching their driveway with that 10$ antiseptic while someone else dies without a needed surgery. By raising the price and pocketing $90, the scalper has prevented resource waste and supplied to the patient and hospital a service worth hundreds of thousands.
If a scalper becomes a monopoly, they can extract a monopoly rent and really bleed everyone dry - but so can a producer in the same situation, so the problem is low competition not intermediaries.
Think about hospitals paying 10 times more for antiseptic and performing surgeries, instead of someone drenching their driveway with that 10$ antiseptic while someone else dies without a needed surgery. By raising the price and pocketing $90, the scalper has prevented resource waste and supplied to the patient and hospital a service worth hundreds of thousands.
If a scalper becomes a monopoly, they can extract a monopoly rent and really bleed everyone dry - but so can a producer in the same situation, so the problem is low competition not intermediaries.