London’s Metropolitan Police has charged 12 people with conspiracy to defraud and money laundering, following the discovery of a music royalties scam.
They are accused of uploading tracks to Apple’s iTunes and Amazon’s MP3 music stores, then using stolen credit cards to buy the songs. Apple and Amazon are said to have paid out royalties on those tracks totalling £193,000 between September 2008 and January 2009.
The scam was discovered in a joint operation by the Met’s Police Central e-crime Unit (PCeU) and the FBI
Detective Chief Inspector Terry Wilson of the PCeU said that international cooperation is crucial tackling crimes of this sort.
“This investigation, with its national and international dimension, exemplifies why we have set up this national response to e-crime,” he told the Sutton Guardian. “We are now making it more risky for criminals who seek to exploit the Internet and commit e-crime across national borders.”
The 12 have been bailed to appear at the City of Westminster Magistrates’ Court on 15 September.
[photo: Justice by MattLazycat; some rights reserved]
