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AI-powered music scam nets musician $10M in royalties–and federal charges

Feds say it's the first US criminal case involving artificially inflated music streaming.

On Wednesday, federal prosecutors charged a North Carolina musician with defrauding streaming services of $10 million through an elaborate scheme involving AI, as reported by The New York Times. Smith's scheme, which prosecutors say ran for seven years, involved creating thousands of fake streaming accounts using purchased email addresses. When confronted by a music distribution company about "multiple reports of streaming abuse" in 2018, The New York Times says that Smith acted shocked and strongly denied any wrongdoing, insisting there was "absolutely no fraud going on whatsoever."

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