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 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

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 10 months ago (2 children)

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

[–] bdonvr@thelemmy.club 9 points 10 months 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 10 months ago (1 children)

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

[–] sunzu2@thebrainbin.org 1 points 10 months 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 25 points 10 months ago (1 children)

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

[–] interdimensionalmeme@lemmy.ml 8 points 10 months ago (1 children)

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

[–] sunzu2@thebrainbin.org 1 points 10 months ago

Dont hurt the normies mate!

[–] GammaGames@beehaw.org 16 points 10 months ago (1 children)

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 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

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

[–] DeltaTangoLima@reddrefuge.com 51 points 10 months ago (2 children)

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 10 months ago (3 children)

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 10 months ago (1 children)

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 10 months 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

[–] flying_sheep@lemmy.ml 4 points 10 months ago (1 children)

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

[–] veeesix@lemmy.ca 4 points 10 months ago

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

[–] JustEnoughDucks@feddit.nl 4 points 10 months ago (1 children)

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 10 months ago

I do vaguely remember that. Could be?

[–] RootBeerGuy@discuss.tchncs.de 3 points 10 months ago

Bio...graphy?

[–] ALittleSticious@lemm.ee 12 points 10 months ago (1 children)

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

[–] sunzu2@thebrainbin.org 1 points 10 months ago

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

[–] Case@lemmynsfw.com 9 points 10 months 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 10 months ago

Great use of taxpayer money ,🤡

[–] cyclicircuit@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 10 months ago

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