đˇ How cybercrime is evolving to target livestreams
Scammers are targeting livestreams to sell fake tickets to free streams
Scammers are targeting livestreamed events to sell fake tickets for streams that are free of charge.
Whatâs happening?
Cybercriminals set up fake pages and events to redirect people interested in certain UK festivals to pages that sell access to streams that are actually free of charge (e.g. on the festival website).
It appears people have been charged between ÂŁ2.95 and ÂŁ7.50.
What can be done against it?
Tackling this type of scams is difficult. It requires platforms like Facebook to identify and remove fake events. Events can try to rely less on open event platforms like Facebook in order to drive viewers to their streams. However, Facebook being the default place where most people look for events makes that challenging. Further consumer education to help fans identify real from fake can also help.
Whatâs the bigger picture?
Years ago I read a report* on how offline crime is dropping whereas cybercrime is rising. The reason for this, the author argued, was that cybercrime has less immediate risk and can be committed at greater scale.
For example: instead of robbing stores in person with the potential of getting injured or caught with each robbery, criminals will target hundreds of shops or bank accounts at once through phishing schemes. The bonus: they can do this from the other side of the world - well outside the jurisdiction of the law where affected people live.
With new aspects of music becoming digital-first, or even digital-only, weâll see common scams such as the fake second-hand ticket scam evolve into crimes that can easily be scaled to more people. Whereas the previous scam just meant you had to vigilantly moderate your event page, removing dodgy comments, and helping people looking for second-hand tickets to identify legitimate sources, the current scam tries to catch people before they land on anything you own and thus potentially reaches many more people.
* I canât recall where I read the report â if it rings a bell to anyone, please send me a message and weâll include it in a future newsletter.
Quick
Crew Nation has been giving out $1,000 sums to event staff affected by the pandemic. Hereâs how itâs going. (Variety)
UK music startup Encore surveyed musicians on their platform about the pandemic. Some of their findings? 64% are considering leaving music, men appears to be bouncing back faster than women, and pop musicians have double the amount of gigs for the remainder of 2020 than classical musicians. (Twitter)
Two high-profile casualties of the pandemic are Disney and Live Nation, together losing nearly $10 billion of revenue in Q2. Mark Mulligan looks into where that money was spent instead and points to home improvements, home shopping, and streaming services. (Music Industry Blog)
Perhaps another pandemic-winner is Patreon (despite having to lay off 13% of their staff back in April). They just raised a $90 million round at a $1.2 billion valuation and will do more in the direction of creator discovery, which is interesting because in the past theyâve argued on their blog that doing so would âlead to some not-so-creator-centric decisionsâ (theyâve deleted the post, but the Wayback Machine has got our backs).
KAO!INC., a Taiwanese hiphop label, has been doing livestreams from restaurant kitchens. To attend the stream, fans can order special food boxes that are sent to their houses. (Taiwan Beats)
On a personal note: Iâm curating a panel for the Liveurope Online Festival. I hope to see many of you online on the 24th and 25th. It will be about what specific European venues are doing to stay relevant to their communities during the pandemic.
Music
I first saw RUI HO perform in a small internet kids Wednesday evening rave in a suburb of Berlin. I was so impressed with her musical talent and itâs been exciting to see that talent develop further over the years on Berlinâs dancefloors as well as on my headphones.
Her debut album is out now and I love how it balances glitchy hyperpop with the global club culture in which sheâs so firmly rooted. If youâre into music like 100 gecs or the PC Music label, the album really is a must-listen.
MUSIC x CORONA is composed by Bas Grasmayer and Maarten Walraven.
â¤ď¸Â musicxtechxfuture.com - musicxgreen.com - linkedin Bas - linkedin Maarten