YouTube scammer sentenced to prison after making $23m in false royalties

A scammer who made a collective $23 million from claiming royalties from YouTube videos with copyrighted music has been sent to prison for over five years.

Jose Teran has been sent to prison for nearly six years after he was found guilty of scamming YouTube out of millions in royalties. The scam, which lasted around five years, saw $23 million worth of royalties stolen from musicians and companies.

Teran’s scam mostly focused on the Latino market, which eventually saw over 50, 000 songs being copyright claimed. During the court hearings, the scam was detailed, including the fact Teran hired eight employees to search YouTube for unclaimed royalties. Teran’s company even partnered with another to create a “layered facade”.

Creating a company, MediaMuv, they would hunt for songs that hadn’t been monetized and use YouTube’s systems to secure the cash. This abuse of YouTube’s systems is quite common for people faking DMCAs but has a secret nefarious underbelly of people also making money off it.

MediaMuv would gain access and become the rights holder in YouTube’s eyes, and any funds would make their way to them.

MediaMuv YouTube scammers went after “100 percent of royalties”

YouTube

However, Teran and MediaMuv were far more boisterous than their counterparts. Rather than claiming on a particular video, they’d go for the throat by claiming “100 percent of royalties for master recordings or publishing.”

Due to not having access to YouTube’s monitoring systems, companies affected by the scam had no idea it was happening.

The company had drawn the attention of the IRS in 2019, which began investigating MediaMuv for its income. Teran and his crew had set up multiple bank accounts, using fake names and other forms of placement, which includes forgery.

Lawyers are now concerned that once released, Teran could become a repeat offender. Days before he was due in court, he set up another bank account to move funds into.

A class-action lawsuit was set to take place, with the goal to allow artists access to YouTube’s systems surrounding royalties. However, it was dismissed before making it to court.