January 4th 2025.
After being arrested, it was discovered that Skylar Dalziel had access to a staggering 290,000 tracks from various artists, including popular bands like Coldplay and solo artists like Shawn Mendes and Bebe Rexha. It was revealed that she had been operating as a dark web dealer, making a hefty profit by selling stolen, unreleased music from these famous musicians. The illegal activity had been going on for almost two years, from April 2021 to January 2023, and resulted in Dalziel pocketing a whopping £42,000.
Her modus operandi involved hacking into the cloud storage accounts of these artists, gaining unauthorized access to their unreleased tracks, and then selling them on the dark web. To cover her tracks, she transferred the money she made to bank accounts in the United States. However, the British authorities were not far behind and have been working closely with Homeland Security to identify the individuals linked to these accounts.
In court, Dalziel pleaded guilty to nine copyright offences and four computer misuse offences. The severity of her actions was not taken lightly, and she was handed a 21-month jail sentence, which was suspended for two years. In addition, she was ordered to complete 180 hours of unpaid work as punishment for her crimes.
Among the artists whose music was stolen were Shawn Mendes and Bebe Rexha. Richard Partridge, from the Crown Prosecution Service, expressed his disappointment in Dalziel's complete disregard for the hard work and creativity put into producing original music. He also highlighted the impact of her actions on not just the artists, but also the employees of the record companies involved.
Detective Constable Daryl Fryatt, from the Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit, emphasized the seriousness of stealing copyrighted material for personal financial gain. He stated that it not only jeopardizes the work of artists but also the livelihoods of those who work with them to create and release their music. In fact, it is estimated that this type of criminal activity leads to 80,000 job losses each year. Fryatt also made it clear that the authorities have the means to locate cybercriminals and hold them accountable for their actions. They believe that Dalziel was working with accomplices overseas and are currently working to identify them.
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