Jamaica-based BPO employee, NYC reseller charged in StubHub ticket fraud
NEW YORK, UNITED STATES and KINGSTON, JAMAICA — A major fraud scandal has hit the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry in Jamaica, with employees of the company involved in a scheme that involved stealing and selling almost a thousand concert tickets for events like the record-breaking Eras Tour of Taylor Swift.
The cybercrime operation that happened between June 2022 and July 2023 generated more than $600,000 through fraudulent sales and has led to arrests in Jamaica and New York.
The fraud scheme unveiled
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz has pointed out that employees of Sutherland Global Services, the third-party contractor to StubHub in Kingston, Jamaica, used access to the ticket exchange company’s computer system to steal.
It is claimed that the workers stole the ticket URLs of high-profile events and sent them to co-conspirators in Queens, New York, who would then download the tickets and sell them on StubHub at higher prices.
“According to the charges, 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. They allegedly exploited a loophole through an offshore ticket vendor to steal tickets to the biggest concert tour of the last decade and then resold those seats for an extraordinary profit of more than $600,000,” Katz said in a statement.
The scheme also involved other big events such as the Adele and Ed Sheeran concerts, NBA games, and the U.S. Open Tennis Championships.
Arrests and ongoing investigation
Two people have been arrested in connection with fraud: Tyrone Rose, 20, of Kingston, Jamaica, and Shamara Simmons, 31, of Jamaica, Queens. Both are charged with second-degree grand larceny, computer tampering, and conspiracy and could face up to 15 years in prison if convicted.
The investigation is still ongoing, and the police are still looking for who was involved in the operation and if there are other people who can be charged as co-conspirators.
Effect on StubHub and Jamaica’s BPO industry
Due to the fraud, StubHub has parted ways with Sutherland Global Services, one of the biggest BPO companies in Jamaica. The decision shows the dangers that come with farming out critical functions to third-party vendors.
In a statement to Variety, Mark Streams, the chief legal officer at StubHub, said on the situation: “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 assured its customers that all the affected orders have been replaced or fully refunded. Nevertheless, the case does concern data security and more stringent controls within the BPO sector, especially when dealing with customer data and financial transactions.
Outsource Accelerator has reached out to Sutherland Global Services for a statement. We will update this article once we receive a response.
