Hackers ‘stole’ hundreds of Taylor Swift ‘Eras Tour’ tickets – making $600,000 through criminal scheme
Two hackers have been arrested after making over half a million dollars by stealing hundreds of Taylor Swift tour tickets.
The two people were arrested in New York last Thursday (February 27) after stealing over 900 concert tickets and carrying out a criminal scheme that made them $600,000 (£465,700).
According to prosecutors from the district attorney’s office in Queens County (via Variety), the two stole close to 1,000 concert tickets to huge tours – including Taylor Swift’s ‘Eras Tour’, and dates for Adele and Ed Sheeran.
This was done as they worked for a third-party contractor for StubHub in Kingston, Jamaica, and found a way to access already purchased tickets. Here, they are accused of intercepting and stealing the URLs for purchased tickets, before reselling them on StubHub for a profit.
The alleged incident took place between June 2022 and July 2023, and they have since been charged with grand larceny, computer tampering, conspiracy and tampering.
According to Variety, district attorney Melinda Katz shared a statement about the incident which read: “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 expense of others.
“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.”
Mark Streams, chief legal officer at StubHub then shared another statement with the outlet, saying that the platform is dedicated to “ensuring a safe and secure platform for our fans”.
He also added that the criminal scheme was “to the third-party customer service vendor, Sutherland Global Services (SGS), as well as to the Queens District Attorney’s Office and Jamaican law enforcement” as soon as it was noticed.
StubHub has also replaced or refunded all tickets impacted by the scheme and introduced more security measures.
Swift’s colossal tour ended on December 8 at Vancouver, British Columbia’s BC Place Stadium, after 149 shows that took place across 21 months. It was soon reported as having grossed a record-breaking $2billion (£1.55bn) through ticket sales – making it the most lucrative in music history.
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Liberty Dunworth
NME
