Stolen cards used in £500k royalties con
A musician from Wolverhampton used stolen credit cards to buy his own songs on online music giants iTunes and Amazon as part of a £500,000 royalties con.
A musician from Wolverhampton used stolen credit cards to buy his own songs on online music giants iTunes and Amazon as part of a £500,000 royalties con.
Lamar Johnson, aged 19, posted music on the two sites and then used the stolen details to buy them thousands of times over. The music stores pay artists when their songs are downloaded.
Helen Malcolm QC, prosecuting, said Johnson used "compromised credit card details" in order to get paid royalties.
Johnson, of Stow Heath Lane, Stow Heath, is the youngest member of a group, mainly from Wolverhampton, accused of making nearly £500,000 through the fraudulent downloads.
The group, which is believed to have links to the urban music scene, allegedly downloaded the songs 6,000 times between January 2008 and June 2009.
Around 20 songs are thought to have been created.
A joint investigation by Scotland Yard's e-crime unit and the FBI led to a series of raids in June last year in Wolverhampton, Birmingham, London and Kent.
Johnson is currently serving a five-year prison term for grievous bodily harm and admitted being responsible for about 2,000 of the downloads.
He pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to defraud while no pleas were entered for the remaining nine defendants at London's Southwark Crown Court yesterday. Judge
Deborah Taylor adjourned sentencing of Johnson and ordered him to be remanded in custody.
Leon Miles, aged 20, of Brooklands Parade, Deansfield; Sheehan Steele, 42, of Hartington Road, Birmingham; Matthew Clarke, 31, of Cross Farm Road, Birmingham; James Batchelor, 28, of Stonehill Road, Derby; librarian Rajan Aheer, 21, of Wellington Road, Bilston; Sandeep Aheer, 23, of Wellington Road, Bilston; Colton Johnson, 20, of Deansfield Road, Deansfield; and care worker Denver White, 25, of Helming Drive, Wednesifeld, are also accused of taking part in the fraud.
Siobhan Clarke, 23, of Carshalton, Surrey, was excused from attending the hearing at Southwark Crown Court, central London.
The nine remaining defendants will appear before the court on January 25.
The iTunes Music Store opened in 2003, with more than 200,000 items available to buy.
In February this year, it sold its 10 billionth song and it now accounts for 70 per cent of worldwide online digital music sales. It now has 13 million songs on sale.
