What if you could propel your band to the top of the iTunes sales charts while simultaneously laundering cash from stolen credit card numbers straight to your bank account?
Why, you’d go to jail, as UK teen Lamar Johnson just found out.
Johnson has just pleaded guilty in court to one count of conspiracy to defraud after he used stolen credit cards to purchase $750,000 worth of his (undisclosed) band’s music on Amazon MP3 and iTunes between January 2008 and June 2009.
He was actually already in jail, serving a five year sentence for grievously bodily harm, so the additional sentence will be tacked onto the existing term, but his confession has just implicated the rest of his 12 member band, who will now have to appear in court in January to defend themselves.
What’s the lesson here? Crime sometimes pays, but not when you’re linking stolen credit cards to your own registered bank account.