AI‑Song Scam Hits $8 Million, Man Must Pay Back

A North Carolina resident admitted to fabricating thousands of AI‑generated tracks and using fake listeners to trick major music services into paying him more than $8 million in royalties. He pleaded guilty to a single wire‑fraud conspiracy charge before a federal judge and will be sentenced in July. The defendant, 54, agreed to return the full amount he stole and faces up to five years in prison. His scheme involved creating hundreds of thousands of songs with generative AI, then running a network of bots that pretended to be real fans. By spreading the plays across tens of thousands of false accounts on Amazon Music, Apple Music, Spotify and YouTube Music, he generated billions of streams.According to prosecutors, each fake account played roughly 636 songs daily, producing about 661 000 streams a day. With an average royalty of half a cent per play, the math added up to about $3 300 each day, $99 000 a month and over $1. 2 million annually. The U. S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York said that although the listeners and music were counterfeit, the money taken was real and had been diverted from legitimate artists. The case highlights how easy it is for fraudsters to exploit streaming algorithms and the need for tighter monitoring. The Department of Justice recommends a sentence that includes three years of supervised release and a fine up to $250 000, in addition to the forfeiture already ordered.