168

I am just impressed by the idea and execution. Just wow. Too bad he took it too far.

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[-] powerofm@lemmy.ca 60 points 1 month ago

Definitely an abuse of the system, but I'm struggling to see where criminal law says you can't make a bunch of fake accounts to listen to garbage music.

[-] bdonvr@thelemmy.club 27 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

In agreeing to be paid by music streaming platforms they almost certainly agreed not to do exactly this. Which makes it fraud.

[-] radiohead37@lemmynsfw.com 16 points 1 month ago

Sounds like a breach of contract, which is a civil matter.

[-] bdonvr@thelemmy.club 9 points 1 month ago

I think that depends on intent and amount of money involved, but I'm definitely not a lawyer.

[-] strongarm@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 1 month ago

Its also cyber crime which is possibly why the FBI need to be involved

[-] sunzu2@thebrainbin.org 1 points 1 month ago

Corpos commit cyber crimes against wage slaves daily... Feds don't do Jack shit about it ... I wonder why this would in the land of the Law 🤣

[-] conciselyverbose@sh.itjust.works 24 points 1 month ago

Fraud is pretty broad and covers most things that deliberately misrepresent reality to take money from someone else.

[-] interdimensionalmeme@lemmy.ml 8 points 1 month ago

Yet advertising and billionaires exist. It's not what you do, it's what clique you're part of.

[-] sunzu2@thebrainbin.org 1 points 1 month ago

Dont hurt the normies mate!

[-] GammaGames@beehaw.org 16 points 1 month ago

From justice.gov:

SMITH, 52, of Cornelius, North Carolina, is charged with wire fraud conspiracy, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison; wire fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison; and money laundering conspiracy, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

[-] interdimensionalmeme@lemmy.ml 8 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

This is a ridiculous law, it might as well be called "money fraud". Justice is a bad joke.

[-] DeltaTangoLima@reddrefuge.com 51 points 1 month ago

In a 2017 email to himself, Smith calculated that he could stream his songs 661,440 times daily, potentially earning $3,307.20 per day and up to $1.2 million annually.

Great idea, but why would you email yourself about it?

[-] veeesix@lemmy.ca 27 points 1 month ago

I have a friend that I’ve tried to convince using a notes app, but he swears that emailing himself notes and to-do lists is more effective. He’s wrong, but to each their own.

[-] DeltaTangoLima@reddrefuge.com 10 points 1 month ago

Oh, sure. I get that. Sending yourself reminders is absolutely understandable. Sending yourself documented evidence of your plans to defraud someone is entirely different.

[-] theneverfox@pawb.social 2 points 1 month ago

Recently, a bunch of people on tik tok found this "bug" in their banking app where you can write a bad check, then withdraw the funds before it clears... Then started crying about it when their balances updated

Dude definitely thought he discovered a cool new life hack

[-] JustEnoughDucks@feddit.nl 4 points 1 month ago

Google keep used to (don't use it anymore) store your notes "backed up" by email. You could view all your notes in gmail.

Maybe it was something like that?

[-] veeesix@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 month ago

I do vaguely remember that. Could be?

[-] flying_sheep@lemmy.ml 4 points 1 month ago

I mean, if you treat your inbox as a to-do list, that's not that far-fetched

[-] veeesix@lemmy.ca 4 points 1 month ago

I can definitely follow his logic, but there are better tools available.

[-] RootBeerGuy@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 1 month ago

Bio...graphy?

[-] sneak100@hexbear.net 41 points 1 month ago

So when rich people do this it's called "innovative" and "disrupting the market", but if you do it FBI busts down your door for being a criminal. Sounds like freedom to me jack

[-] ALittleSticious@lemm.ee 13 points 1 month ago

They only take crimes against the rich seriously - what a joke of a country the US is.

[-] sunzu2@thebrainbin.org 1 points 1 month ago

The better people.... Shiti organics just suck too much

[-] Case@lemmynsfw.com 9 points 1 month ago

I've thought of this, but don't have the wherewithal to actually make a project come to fruition.

I'm also not a lawyer, but I've read multiple articles on this, and it doesn't seem like any legal violation. Corporation got lazy, didn't confirm where 10m in royalties went and under what circumstance, and got burned.

Finally a corp gets scammed by the common man.

I say good on him.

[-] sunzu2@thebrainbin.org 4 points 1 month ago

Great use of taxpayer money ,🤡

[-] cyclicircuit@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 1 month ago

NGL... I'm upset I didn't think of this

this post was submitted on 06 Sep 2024
168 points (98.8% liked)

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