Stealing the spotlight isn’t just for pop stars anymore. A cybercrime crew based in Jamaica is making headlines, but not for their musical talent – rather, they’re infamous for snagging and reselling a staggering 900+ tickets to Taylor Swift’s illustrious Eras Tour, mixed in with some Adele and Ed Sheeran action as well.

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz revealed this not-so-impressive underbelly of ticketing, where crafty contractors at StubHub’s vendor nabbed URLs of purchased tickets and sent them off to their accomplices in New York. Those New Yorkers, it turns out, took those tickets, slapped on some hefty price tags, and sold them back on StubHub, resulting in a jaw-dropping profit of over $600,000 in just about a year. Talk about a shady operation that makes capitalism look bad – let’s face it, that’s a pretty high price for trying to see “Anti-Hero” live.

The majority of their ill-gotten gains came from Swifties eager to witness Taylor’s glittering performances on tour, although they didn’t shy away from snagging tickets to other big events like NBA games and the U.S. Open Tennis Championships either. Clearly, this crew had no loyalty to any single fandom.

Two culprits have been caught in the act: Tyrone Rose, a 20-year-old who was redirected tickets in Jamaica, and Shamara Simmons, a 31-year-old in Queens. Both were arrested and currently face charges of grand larceny, computer tampering, and conspiracy – which is like the adult version of “getting booted from the concert for sneaking in”.

As for StubHub? Oh, they say they discovered this little ticketing scandal and reported it before anyone else could. They’ve since terminated ties with their problematic vendor and beefed up their security measures, which we can only assume means they’ve invested in some serious cyber bouncers.

All impacted ticket holders have received replacements or refunds, but let’s be real – if you thought a live performance was expensive, wait until you see how much those black market tickets were going for. We’re glad justice is putting a damper on this madness, but maybe the artists need to take a look at how ticket economy operates to avoid such shady shenanigans in the future.