What happened?
Recently, two hackers by the names of Tyrone Rose and Shamara Simmons (ages 20 and 31) have been accused and arrested in New York City, even after pleading not guilty, for stealing Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour tickets that had already been bought and reselling them for an extreme price. Here’s the story of how they did it.
The hackers worked for a StubHub contractor in Jamaica called Sutherland, and they stole tickets to resell them on StubHub’s official website, making more than $600,000. This went on from June of 2022 until July of 2023, but was only discovered recently, after the tour had already ended.
The reselling situation also happened with other artists, like Adele and Ed Sheeran, but it happened mostly when Eras Tour tickets were being sold. This even happened a few times with major league sports games like the NBA and the US Open Tennis Championships.
How did they do it?
This story is surprising and a little unbelievable as well, but how did the hackers even do this? Well, first of all, they had an advantage because they worked for a contractor, which meant they already had back-end access to the StubHub site that regular customers don’t have. This was not found out until very recently; the reason for that is probably because they worked for the StubHub company itself. This would mean it’s unlikely for them to be the main suspects for a cyber-crime in this scenario.
Since the hacking event, the StubHub company has cut off all interactions with the vending contractor and made its firewalls and borders stronger so that it’s almost impossible for the site to be hacked again. According to them, some of the stolen tickets have been refunded to the original buyers, and most have been fully replaced.
What does this mean for the hackers?
Although they have gotten away with it for so long, the court won’t let Tyrone Rose and Shamara Simmons get away with this kind of crime this time. They will have a court hearing soon, and if they are convicted, they could face a prison sentence of anywhere from three to fifteen years. Their attorney, Melinda Katz, is still trying to figure out if more people are involved in this scandal. As of now, this will probably not happen again because, first of all, the hackers were arrested, and secondly, the Eras Tour has already ended.
RELATED STORIES:
https://variety.com/2025/music/news/taylor-swift-eras-tour-tickets-stolen-hackers-1236328659/
https://www.avclub.com/taylor-swift-eras-tour-hackers-arrested-stubhub
https://www.ks95.com/hackers-accused-of-stealing-reselling-taylor-swift-concert-tickets/
https://therecord.media/two-arrested-for-stealing-taylor-swift-tickets-cybertheft
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