Latest news with #TyroneRose
WIRED
08-03-2025
- Politics
- WIRED
Cybercriminals Allegedly Used a StubHub Backdoor to Steal Taylor Swift Tickets
Lily Hay Newman Matt Burgess Mar 8, 2025 6:30 AM Plus: The world's 'largest illicit online marketplace' gets hit by regulators, police seize the Garantex crypto exchange, and scammers trick targets by making up ransomware attacks. Photograph:As Donald Trump's administration continues its relentless reorganization of the United States federal government, documents obtained by WIRED showed this week that the Department of Defense is looking at cutting as much as three-quarters of its workforce that's specifically focused on stopping proliferation of chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons. Meanwhile, the US Army is using its 'CamoGPT' AI tool to 'review' diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility policies per Trump administration orders. The military originally developed the AI service to improve productivity and operational readiness. US civil liberties organizations are pushing the director of national intelligence. Tulsi Gabbard, to declassify details about Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act—a central overseas wiretap authority that is notorious for also capturing a large number of calls, texts, and emails made or sent by Americans. And the US Justice Department on Wednesday charged 10 alleged hackers and two Chinese government officials over digital crimes spanning more than a decade as part of China's extensive hack-for-hire ecosystem. Ongoing analysis from a consortium of researchers led by Human Security found that at least a million low-price Android devices, like TV streaming boxes and tablets, have been compromised as part of a scamming and ad fraud campaign known as Badbox 2.0. The activity, which the researchers say comes out of China, is an evolution of a previous effort to backdoor similar devices. And there's more. Each week, we round up the security and privacy news we didn't cover in depth ourselves. Click the headlines to read the full stories. And stay safe out there. Cybercriminals Allegedly Used a Backdoor to Steal Taylor Swift Tickets Two people who allegedly worked as part of a group to access nearly 1,000 tickets to concerts and other events—many for Taylor Swift's Eras Tour—before selling them on for more than $600,000 profit were arrested and charged with the potential crimes in Queens this week. Tyrone Rose, 20, and Shamara P. Simmons, 31, of Jamaica, Queens, were arrested and arraigned in connection to the theft and sales, according to Queens district attorney Melinda Katz. Between June 2022 and July 2023, it is alleged that 350 orders—totaling 993 tickets—on ticketing platform StubHub were accessed at a third-party contractor called Sutherland. '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 district attorney's office wrote in a statement. They then emailed URLs to another accomplice who has since died, the office says, before posting the tickets to StubHub for resale. While the investigations are ongoing, the District Attorney's office claimed the proceeds of the cybercrime totaled around $635,000 and also involved tickets for Ed Sheeran concerts, NBA games, and the US Open Tennis Championships. Payment Provider Linked to 'Largest Illicit Online Marketplace' Loses Banking License Every year, criminals make billions from the operations of highly organized scam compounds in Southeast Asia. As these operations have grown in sophistication, so has the wider ecosystem that supplies them with the technology and services needed to run the scams. And experts say there's no bigger marketplace than Huione Guarantee—a Cambodian gray market selling scam services that researchers claim has facilitated more than $24 billion in transactions. This week, according to a report by Radio Free Asia, the banking arm of Huione Guarantee's parent company, Huione Group, had its financial license suspended by officials in Cambodia. According to the report, the Huione Pay service had its license withdrawn for failing to comply with 'existing regulations.' The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and crypto tracing firm Elliptic previously had linked money moving through Huione Pay to cyberscamming. 'They are willing facilitators of pig butchering and other fraud, so any regulatory action against them should be welcomed,' Elliptic founder Tom Robinson claimed to Radio Free Asia. Russian Cryptocurrency Exchange Garantex Taken Down in Law Enforcement Action The US Department of Justice announced an operation this week with Germany and Finland to disrupt the digital infrastructure behind notorious Russian cryptocurrency exchange Garantex. For years, the platform has allegedly been used for money laundering and other criminal transactions, including sanctions evasion. The DOJ claimed in its announcement that 'transnational criminal organizations—including terrorist organizations' have utilized the exchange. Law enforcement said that the platform has processed at least $96 billion in cryptocurrency transactions since April 2019. US authorities said they froze over $26 million in funds used to facilitate money laundering as part of the Garantex takedown. Scammers Are Impersonating Notorious Ransomware Attackers to Extort Targets The FBI warned this week that scammers pretending to be attackers from the BianLian ransomware gang are demanding ransoms from corporate executives in the US. The demands include claims that the group has breached a company's network and threaten to publish sensitive information unless a target pays up. Such criminal digital extortion is common enough that scammers apparently feel that they can plausibly make the claims and intimidate targets without even attacking them. The FBI says that the scammers' ransom demands say that they come from BianLian and range from $250,000 to $500,000 payable via a QR code that links to a Bitcoin wallet. The real BianLian group has links to Russia and has targeted US critical infrastructure since June 2022, according to a November alert from the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.
Yahoo
06-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Taylor Swift Fans Make Bold Demand of Recently Identified Thieves
With the news that two people have been arrested and arranged in New York City for stealing more than 900 concert tickets, many on Taylor Swift's Eras Tour, there's bad blood brewing between Swifties and the alleged perpetrators. The two alleged thieves raked in more than $600,000 in the scam, lining their pockets while fans who bought tickets were left angry and confused about how their digital tickets seemingly disappeared. Tyrone Rose and Shamara P. Simmons were arrested Thursday, Feb. 27, according to Variety. Prosecutors from the District Attorney's Office in Queens County allege the pair stole about 933 tickets to the Eras Tour as well as Adele and Ed Sheeran concerts after gaining access to digital tickets purchased by fans. Rose and another individual were employed by Sunderland, a contractor for the ticket service StubHub in Kingston, Jamaica, per the report. By using their access to the service's website they were able to grab the URLs for already purchased tickets and then repost and resell them for profit. A third person involved the plot has died. Swift fans hearing the news aren't just shaking it off but are out for blood. 'death sentence i fear,' one fan posted on X, while another applauded the news, writing, 'Nice. Get those thieves!' Another suggested a harsh punishment, 'Lets publicly burn them like they did to the witches in Salem.' Yet another poster suggested a technical solution for ticket sellers. 'If only Ticketmaster would put two step authentication in place for transfers to prevent this from happening.' That comment may have been sarcastic because the ticket retailer does have two-factor authentication for some account services. For their part, StubHub's chief legal officer Mark Streams shared a statement with Variety. 'At StubHub, ensuring a safe and secure platform for our fans is our highest priority. Upon discovering this criminal scheme, we immediately reported it to the third-party customer service vendor, Sutherland Global Services (SGS), as well as to the Queens District Attorney's Office and Jamaican law enforcement. The individuals involved, employees of SGS, exploited a system vulnerability to fraudulently resell tickets. They were swiftly identified and terminated. StubHub has since replaced or refunded all identified orders impacted and strengthened security measures to further protect our fans and sellers. We appreciate the efforts of District Attorney Melinda Katz and law enforcement in bringing these individuals to justice,' it reads.
Express Tribune
06-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Express Tribune
Taylor Swift's Eras Tour tickets stolen in $635K cybercrime scheme, Adele and Ed Sheeran's concerts also targeted
Nearly 1,000 tickets to Taylor Swift's Eras Tour were allegedly stolen and resold for $635,000 in a sophisticated hacking scheme, according to New York prosecutors. Two individuals, Tyrone Rose, 20, from Kingston, Jamaica, and Shamara Simmons, 31, from Queens, New York, were arrested and charged for orchestrating the cybercrime. The operation ran from June 2022 to July 2023, coinciding with the highly anticipated Eras Tour presales, which famously caused Ticketmaster's system to crash. Photo: X Due to extraordinarily high demands on ticketing systems and insufficient remaining ticket inventory to meet that demand, tomorrow's public on-sale for Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour has been cancelled. — Ticketmaster (@Ticketmaster) November 17, 2022 Rose, a former employee of StubHub vendor Sutherland, allegedly hijacked ticket URLs and redirected them to Queens, where Simmons and a now-deceased accomplice downloaded and resold them on StubHub. The stolen tickets included Adele and Ed Sheeran concerts, NBA games, and U.S. Open tennis matches. Queens County District Attorney Melinda Katz stated, '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.' Both suspects face charges of grand larceny, computer tampering, and conspiracy, carrying potential sentences of up to 15 years if convicted. StubHub has since refunded all affected customers and reinforced security measures to prevent further breaches. The Eras Tour made history as the highest-grossing tour ever, surpassing $2 billion in revenue before concluding on December 8, 2024, in Vancouver.
Yahoo
06-03-2025
- Yahoo
Duo Who Made $600K Selling Stolen Taylor Swift Tickets Arrested in New York
The Queens District Attorney's office announced this week the arrests of two people who made more than $600,000 selling stolen tickets for Taylor Swift concerts, NBA games and other events. Tyrone Rose, 20, of Kingston, Jamaica, and Shamara P. Simmons, 31, of Jamaica, Queens were arrested Thursday and charged with grand larceny in the second degree, conspiracy in the fourth degree, and two hacking-related charges, computer tampering in the first degree and computer tampering in the fourth degree. According to the DA's office Rose and an unnamed co-conspitator worked at a third party contractor called Sutherland in Jamaica, where they obtained ticket URLS from StubHub. They then sent the tickets by email to Simmons and a unnamed co-conspirator, who then resold them on StubHub. Simmons' co-conspirator has since died. Approximately 993 tickets were stolen from around 350 StubHub orders between June 2022 and July 2023. During this time, the scheme netted approximately $635,000, prosecutors say. The vast majority of stolen tickets were from Swift's blockbuster 'The Eras' tour, but tickets for Adele and Ed Sheeran concerts, the US Open Tennis Championships and NBA games were also pilfered. The arrests took place Feb. 27. The post Duo Who Made $600K Selling Stolen Taylor Swift Tickets Arrested in New York appeared first on TheWrap.
Washington Post
05-03-2025
- Washington Post
Stolen Taylor Swift tickets allegedly resold in $635,000 hacking scheme
Two people, including a former employee of a StubHub vendor, were arrested and arraigned last week in New York for allegedly pocketing over $600,000 from stealing and reselling Taylor Swift's Eras Tour and other popular concert tickets, the Queens County district attorney's office announced Monday. Tyrone Rose, a 20-year-old from Kingston, Jamaica, and Shamara Simmons, a 31-year-old based in Jamaica, Queens, were charged Thursday with grand larceny, computer tampering and conspiracy for their alleged involvement in a year-long cybercrime scheme. Each could face up to 15 years in prison if convicted of the most serious charge. An attorney for Rose and Simmons could not immediately be reached.
