Two people have been arrested in connection with cyber crime as they stole more than 900 concert tickets, majority of which were for Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour. 

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Fraudsters stole Taylor Swift's concert tickets

The two people have been identified as Tyrone Rose and Shamara Simmons. They have been arrested on charges of fraud and exploiting a system loophole. Through an offshore ticket vendor for StubHub, they were able to access already-sold-out tickets via their URLs and resell them for exorbitant prices. 

They were charged on February 27 with grand larceny, computer tampering and conspiracy. They face sentences of three to 15 years in prison if convicted. The investigation was referred to prosecutors by StubHub.

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The fraud came to light when about 350 StubHub orders for 1000 tickets were stolen. This happened between June 2022 to July 2023. The fraudsters used their access to StubHub’s computer system to find a backdoor into the network where sold tickets were given a URL and queued to be emailed to the purchaser, according to prosecutors. 

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The stolen URLs were then emailed to others involved in the scheme who downloaded the tickets and resold them on StubHub. They allegedly made over $600,000 with this scheme. 

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About 1,000 tickets stolen

Most of the tickets were for high-profile artists, including Taylor Swift, Adele and Ed Sheeran, as well as NBA games and the U.S. Open Tennis Championships.

Authorities are now investigating the matter and are looking for any other participants who might have been involved in this scam.  In a statement, Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said, “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.”

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