Towards the end of last year, Taylor Swift wrapped up her historic The Eras Tour, which ended up selling about $2 billion in tickets. A few hundred fans who paid for their tickets, though, didn’t end up getting to use them, thanks to the efforts of some hackers.
The misdeeds aren’t going unpunished, though: As Deadline reports, Tyrone Rose and Shamara P. Simmons have been arrested and are facing charges of second degree grand larceny, first degree computer tampering, fourth degree conspiracy, and fourth degree computer tampering. Why? They’re accused of stealing over 900 digital concert tickets, primarily for The Eras Tour, and re-selling them on StubHub, ultimately profiting more than $600,000.
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said in a statement, “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. 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.”
The operation also targeted concerts from Adele and Ed Sheeran, as well as NBA games and the US Open Tennis Championships. An investigation is ongoing.