In New York, a group involved in cybercrime has been accused of stealing and reselling over 900 digital tickets to high-demand events, including concerts by Taylor Swift. The operation, which prosecutors say took place over the span of a year from June 2022 to July 2023, involved individuals based in Jamaica working through a company contracted by the online ticket platform, StubHub.
According to Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz, the criminals would steal the URLs of tickets purchased on StubHub and email these details to accomplices in New York. These accomplices then downloaded the tickets and sold them at significantly inflated prices on the very same platform, earning over $600,000 in profits from their illegal activities.
While a large number of the stolen tickets were for Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour, the gang also targeted tickets for popular artists like Adele and Ed Sheeran, as well as events such as NBA games and the U.S. Open Tennis Championships.
Investigators are currently probing further into the operation to uncover any additional participants involved in this scheme. Last Thursday, two individuals, Tyrone Rose and Shamara Simmons, were arrested and faced charges of grand larceny, computer tampering, and conspiracy.
Tyrone Rose, who is 20 years old, was among those in Jamaica redirecting ticket purchases to the emails of Simmons, 31, and another accomplice in Queens. He was arrested during a visit to New York and was instructed to surrender his passport. Both Rose and Simmons pleaded not guilty to the charges and were released on bail while awaiting their next court appearance.
StubHub has acknowledged the scheme, stating that they were proactive in reporting the crime to authorities and their customer service vendor. The company has since terminated its relationship with that vendor and strengthened its security protocols. StubHub also assured that all impacted ticket orders have been either replaced or fully refunded.
