Taylor Swift's Eras Tour's Stolen Tickets Resold in $635K Cybercrime Scheme

A cybercrime operation stole nearly 1,000 tickets for musicals, concerts, and other high-profile events, including Taylor Swift's "Eras" Tour, and netted over $635,000.

Last week, police charged 20-year-old Tyrone Rose of Kingston, Jamaica, and Shamara Simmons, 31, of Jamaica, Queens, with a host of offenses, including grand larceny, computer tampering, and conspiracy. They each face 15 years maximum prison time if convicted.

Ticket Vendor Lapses Exploited by the Scheme

According to a report by the New York Times, authorities allege that the hacking operation exploited a loophole within an offshore ticket vendor for about a year, from June 2022 to around July 2023.

Rose, who had been employed by a vendor tied to StubHub, was accused of redirecting ticket URLs that were then forwarded to Queens. Simmons and a now-deceased accomplice downloaded and re-sold them via StubHub.

Queens County District Attorney Melinda Katz slammed the scheme, stating, "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."

Affected Events and Ticketing Scandals

Most of the face-value tickets reportedly stolen were for Swift's record-setting "Eras" Tour. Still, prosecutors said other events were also affected, including concerts by Adele and Ed Sheeran, NBA games, and the US Open tennis championships.

StubHub Chief Legal Officer Mark Streams confirmed that the company had made moves. In a statement Wednesday, StubHub said it has since filled or paid back all affected orders unearthed and tightened security to safeguard our fans and sellers better.

The case is another black eye for the ticketing space. StubHub has denied the allegations but was sued in July over the practice, known as "drip pricing," by Washington, DC, Attorney General Brian Schwalb. The US government sued Ticketmaster parent Live Nation for antitrust violations in May, alleging that the company has monopolized ticketing and concert industries.

Dan Wall, Live Nation's executive vice president of corporate and regulatory affairs, dismissed the allegations and pointed to the press conference announcing the complaint, saying the complaint makes an effort to project Live Nation and Ticketmaster as the scapegoat for fan frustration with the live entertainment space.

He said that high ticket prices are attributed to concert promoters and ticketing companies, neither of which sets ticket prices.

"It ignores everything that is actually responsible for higher ticket prices, from increasing production costs to artist popularity, to 24/7 online ticket scalping that reveals the public's willingness to pay far more than primary tickets cost."

'Eras' Tour Shatters Records

Even with the ticketing controversies surrounding her, Swift's "Eras" Tour eventually became the highest-grossing tour in history, eclipsing the $2 billion mark. After two years of touring, the 149-show tour neared its end in Vancouver, British Columbia, on December 8, 20ng.

The tour included some heavy production and a star-studded crowd and reached over 4 million fans across the globe.

However, Swifties took to criticizing Ticketmaster for the tour's presale, which caused the site to crash and eventually cancel general ticket sales.

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