While she grossed more than $2 billion on her historic Eras Tour, some Taylor Swift fans were taken for a ride to the tune of $600,000… no private jet involved.
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that two hackers were arrested and arraigned on Thursday after allegedly stealing upwards of 900 digital concert tickets, mostly for the Eras Tour, and selling them for a profit of more than $600,000 over a year.
“According to the charges, these defendants tried to use the popularity of Taylor Swift’s concert tour and other high-profile events to profit at the expensive of others,” said Katz in a statement. “They allegedly exploited a loophole through an offshore ticket vendor to steal tickets to the biggest concert tour of the last decade and then resold those seats for an extraordinary profit of more than $600,000.”
According to DA Katz’s office, two individuals working for a StubHub third-party contractor in Kingston, Jamaica, stealing ticket URLs and emailing them to two co-conspirators in Jamaica, Queens, who allegedly downloaded the tickets and resold them on StubHub for personal profit.
Tyrone Rose and Shamara P. Simmons of Queens face charges of second degree grand larceny, first degree computer tampering, fourth degree conspiracy and fourth degree computer tampering. Returning to court on Friday, they each face a maximum of three to 15 years in prison.
The investigation is ongoing as the DA’s office seeks to identify other co-conspirators and determine the extent of the operation, which also targeted Adele concerts, Ed Sheeran concerts, NBA games and the US Open Tennis Championships.
