Two individuals working for a third-party contractor of StubHub, the online ticket marketplace, have been charged with stealing nearly $635,000 worth of concert tickets. The majority of the stolen tickets were for Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour, but the scheme also targeted other high-profile events.
The perpetrators, Tyrone Rose (20) and Shamara Simmons (31), were employed by Sutherland Global Services in Jamaica. Their alleged method involved exploiting a loophole in the ticket vendor’s platform to intercept approximately 350 StubHub orders.
According to Queens County District Attorney Melinda Katz, “The Sutherland employees, defendant Tyrone Rose and an unapprehended accomplice, allegedly used their access to StubHub’s computer system to find a backdoor into a secure area of the network where already sold tickets were given a URL and queued to be emailed to the purchaser to download.”
The URLs were then redirected to the emails of Simmons and a deceased accomplice.
District Attorney Katz stated, “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. This takedown highlights the vigilance of my office’s Cybercrime and Cryptocurrency Unit as well as the importance of working with our industry partners to combat fraudulent activities and ensure the protection of consumers.”
The stolen tickets included those for Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour, Ed Sheeran concerts, Adele concerts, NBA games, and the US Open Tennis Championships. The investigation is ongoing, and authorities are working to determine the full extent of the operation and identify any other potential co-conspirators.
Rose and Simmons were arrested in New York City and charged with grand larceny, computer tampering, and conspiracy. If convicted on the most serious charge, they face a potential prison sentence of three to 15 years.
