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 2 years 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 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years 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 2 years ago

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

[-] bdonvr@thelemmy.club 9 points 2 years 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 2 years ago

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

[-] conciselyverbose@sh.itjust.works 25 points 2 years ago

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

[-] interdimensionalmeme@lemmy.ml 7 points 2 years ago

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

[-] GammaGames@beehaw.org 16 points 2 years 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 7 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

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

[-] DeltaTangoLima@reddrefuge.com 51 points 2 years 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 2 years 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 2 years 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 2 years 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 2 years 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 2 years ago

I do vaguely remember that. Could be?

[-] flying_sheep@lemmy.ml 4 points 2 years ago

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

[-] veeesix@lemmy.ca 4 points 2 years ago

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

[-] RootBeerGuy@discuss.tchncs.de 3 points 2 years ago

Bio...graphy?

[-] ALittleSticious@lemm.ee 13 points 2 years ago

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

[-] Case@lemmynsfw.com 9 points 2 years 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.

[-] cyclicircuit@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 2 years 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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