J’can charged in concert ticket scam run from Kgn-based call centre

A Jamaican man who is employed to a popular call centre in Kingston has been charged in the United States relative to a sophisticated cybercrime scam involving the theft of over 900 tickets for high-value events, including those for US singer Taylor Swift's Eras Tour.

Tyrone Rose, a 20-year-old resident of Kingston, and his co-accused, Shamara P Simmons, 31, of Jamaica, Queens in New York City, were among four individuals who allegedly exploited a loophole through an offshore third-party contractor for StubHub in Kingston, Jamaica.

StubHub is a website that allows users to buy and sell tickets for live events like concerts, theatre and sporting events.

The contractor was named in a press release on Monday from Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz, as being connected to a popular call centre in Kingston. However, due to the complaint being only an allegation at this point, the call centre will not be named at present

Rose and another unidentified alleged accomplice worked at the company in Kingston, Katz stated.

The tickets, stolen from StubHub, were resold on the platform for a staggering profit of over US$635,000.

Rose, who was apprehended while visiting New York, US, and Simmons were arrested and arraigned last Thursday on a criminal complaint charging them with grand larceny in the second degree, computer tampering in the first degree, conspiracy in the fourth degree, and computer tampering in the fourth degree.

They pleaded not guilty to the charges and were ordered by Criminal Court Judge Anthony Battisti to return to court on March 7.

They each face a potential maximum sentence of three to 15 years in prison if convicted of the top count, the statement said.

Katz said according to the charges and investigation, between June of 2022 and July of 2023, approximately 350 StubHub orders, resulting in approximately 993 tickets, were intercepted by two individuals working for the third-party contractor in Kingston.

The employees - Rose and an alleged accomplice who has not yet been apprehended - 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.

Rose and his alleged co-conspirator reportedly re-directed the URLs to the emails of co-conspirators Shamara Simmons in Queens, US, and a now deceased accomplice who lived in Queens.

The alleged co-conspirators downloaded the tickets from the re-routed URL, then posted the tickets to StubHub and resold them for profit.

"The overall illicit proceeds from the scheme are valued at US$635,000. Most of the tickets that were stolen were for high-value and high-profile events, such as Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour, Adele concerts, Ed Sheeran concerts, NBA games, and the US Open Tennis Championships," the Queens District Attorney's Office said.

Meanwhile, Katz reiterated that the 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," Katz stated.

She also lauded StubHub for alerting her office to the fraudulent scheme.