NEW YORK (AP) — Six people were indicted Wednesday in an international ring that took over more than 1,600 StubHub users' accounts and fraudulently bought tickets to such prime events as Jay-Z and Elton John concerts and Broadway shows like "The Book of Mormon," the Manhattan district attorney said Wednesday.
Cyrus R. Vance Jr. said the thieves would resell the tickets and split up the proceeds.
"Today's arrests and indictment connect a global network of hackers, identity thieves and money-launderers who victimized countless individuals," Vance told a news conference.
Money stolen in the scheme, in ticket value, was at least $ 1.6 million, he said.
Three others have been arrested in London and one in Toronto, Vance said.
StubHub, owned by eBay Inc., is the leading digital marketplace for reselling concert, sports, theater and other tickets, offering brokers and fans a way "to buy or sell their tickets in a safe, convenient and highly reliable environment," as its website pledges.
StubHub, which is based in San Francisco, said the thieves didn't break through its security; rather, they got account holders' login and password information from data breaches at other websites and retailers or from key-loggers or other malware on the customers' computers, spokesman Glenn Lehrman said.
The company detected the unauthorized transactions last year, he said.
In the last few years, major companies such as Target, LinkedIn, eBay and Neiman Marcus have been hacked.
Since many people use the same passwords at multiple retailers, hackers who get hold of a password for one site often try it at another, Lehrman said.
Authorities generally advise consumers to protect against possible identity theft from such breaches by keeping close watch on their bank statements and using credit card monitoring services, among other tips.
- Financial Fraud Prevention
- Crime & Justice
- StubHub
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