Two Hackers Charged With Stealing Hundreds Of Taylor Swift Concert Tickets Worth IDR 9.8 Billion

JAKARTA - Two hackers have been charged with stealing more than 900 tickets to a music concert, most of which are tickets to Taylor Swift's The Eras Tour.

According to Variety's report, the two hackers managed to make a profit of 600,000 US dollars (Rp9.8 billion) during their illegal actions.

District Attorney Melinda Katz of the District Attorney's Office in Queens County said two hackers under the namesmen Rose and Shamara P. Simmons were arrested last Thursday.

Rose and Simmons were charged with massive theft, computer forgery, conspiracy, and forgery. They allegedly took away about 993 tickets from the Eras Tour, the concerts of Ed Sheeran and Adele, in a scheme that gave them access to tickets already purchased.

"According to the indictment, these defendants tried to use the popularity of Taylor Swift's concert tour and other important events to make a profit at the expense of others," Katz said, citing Variety, Friday, March 7.

Meanwhile, Rose and his accomplices are said to be working for Sunderland, a third-party contractor for StubHub in Kingston, Jamaica. They used access to the StubHub system to intercept tickets.

The Prosecutor's Office also claimed that the defendant stole the URL for the ticket that had been sold and transferred the URL to Simmons and an accomplice who is now dead. They then uploaded the ticket to StubHub and resell it for profit.

They allegedly exploited loopholes through overseas ticket vendors to steal tickets to the biggest concert tour in the last decade and then resell the seats to make an extraordinary profit of more than 600,000 US dollars, Katz said.

In addition, Mark Streams as the Head of the Legal Division of StubHub said that it ensures that their platform is safe and protected for fans.

After finding this criminal scheme, we immediately reported it to a third-party customer service vendor, Sutherland Global Services (SGS), as well as to the Queens District Attorney's Office and Jamaican law enforcement. The people involved, SGS employees, exploited the system's vulnerability to cheat back on tickets. They were immediately identified and stopped, "said Streams.

Since then, StubHub has replaced or returned all orders identified as affected and strengthened security measures to better protect our fans and sellers. We appreciate the efforts of District Attorney Melinda Katz and law enforcement in bringing these people to court," he concluded.