A Prankster Was Cruelly Tricking ‘Hamilton’ Fans Into Thinking They Won Tickets

https://twitter.com/nately/status/752501109802037248/

A cute and harmless prank is getting someone to sit on a whoopee cushion or calling and asking if their fridge is running. But emailing people with awesome news that they’ve won $10 tickets to see Lin-Manuel Miranda’s final performance as Alexander Hamilton in Hamilton? Tickets sold on secondary markets for the price of a brand new Honda Civic. That’s crossing the line from cute and harmless prank to cruel and vindictive.

A trickster actually had people believing they won Hamilton tickets by claiming their names were selected in a Hamilton-related drawing. The email looked so official to one victim that she “balled” when she found out she missed her tickets because she didn’t respond in time.

https://twitter.com/racheldeluga/status/751875257569542148

Others, who I’m guessing have been using this thing called The Internet for a while, knew they were being had and didn’t fall victim to the malicious prank.

https://twitter.com/nately/status/752501109802037248

So, what the hell?

The emails were generated by the “Hamiltowned,” the brainchild of evil genius and software developer Scott Luptowski. Hamitlowned allowed you to prank your friends and enemies with fake emails telling them they were winners of $10 Hamilton tickets and had 60 minutes to purchase or be sh*t out of luck.

With Miranda’s last performance this past Saturday, the website is now defunct and redirects to Luptowski’s deliciously Geocities-style website. While the prank was cruel, part of me wants him to do the same with Beyoncé tickets.

(Via Gawker)