A young Australian IT worker has been arrested for stealing subscription details of Netflix and Spotify and later selling it to others. He even earned a profit of around Rs 1.47 crores (around 300,000 Australian dollars).
CNET reported on Wednesday, “The person was allegedly behind a website named WickedGen.com which had around 120,000 users – where Hulu, Spotify, and Netflix passwords were sold after stealing from nearly a million accounts.”
The person behind all these is Evan Leslie McMahon, a 21-year-old, who was arrested by the Australian Federal Police after receiving a tip-off from the FBI.
McMahon has been charged with several cybercrime offences and was introduced to a court later. His website WickedGen.com has also been shut down thereafter.
According to the police statement, “The account details were obtained through credential stuffing, which sees a list of previously stolen or leaked usernames, email addresses, and corresponding passwords re-used and sold for unauthorised access,” reported CNET. These account credentials belonged to many in Australia and other parts of the world, including the US.
Chris Goldsmid, the Acting Commander of Australian Federal Police, “Offences like these, often lead to more grievous form of data theft and manipulation and the victims in a greater consequence.”