POLICE have warned Brits of the huge criminal gang operations behind illegal streaming sites and dodgy Fire Sticks.
The number of people streaming Sky Sports and other premium TV via knock-off boxes has gone “through the roof”.
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But those buying them maybe be unaware it’s not a victimless crime.
Crooks are using money gained from such operations for drugs, forced labour, people trafficking and other types of criminality.
“We always follow the money and go for the bigger organised crime groups and the bigger organised crime networks,” Emma Warbey, head of the Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit at the City of London Police, told the Financial Times.
Efforts have largely focused on cease and desist letters to some lower-level sellers which have been “very effective”.
Read more on illegal streaming
“We are basically saying, ‘We know what you’re doing, this is the law that you’re breaking, and if you carry on, we will come and arrest you,'” she explained.
But she admits tackling end users is more challenging.
“We can’t arrest everybody in the UK that’s doing it,” the detective chief inspector continues.
“So we’re trying to look at other tactics.”
Users also run the risk of falling victim to devastating fraud themselves.
One former illegal streamer recently told The Sun how crooks instantly accessed his bank account shortly after signing up to one such service.
The 46-year-old from the Northwest of England – who asked to remain anonymous – said mates had used the illegal site before and recommended it, so he assumed it would be safe.
However, little after signing up with his bank details a number of unexpected transactions were attempted on his account totalling several thousand pounds.
“It all seemed quite secure, so I didn’t even think at the time,” he said.
“After that, the payment was taken but there were all sorts of transactions on my bank account for quite a large amount of money which were on various times and various dates for different amounts.
“It’s scary really, they attempted thousands.”
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Warning over ‘jailbroken’ Fire Sticks
Illegal streaming can be delivered by a number of devices by one of the most common are ‘jailbroken’ Fire Sticks, which means a third-party media server software has been installed on to it.
The software most commonly used is called Kodi.
It can grant users unrestricted access to new features and apps the normal version of the device wouldn’t allow – but it is not legal to use in the UK.
But it becomes illegal when a box is used to stream subscription channels for free.
It is also illegal to buy or sell these modified devices which have become known as “fully-loaded” – a term that describes how the software has been altered to allow access to subscription-only channels.
“These devices are legal when used to watch legitimate, free to air, content,” the government said at the time.
“They become illegal once they are adapted to stream illicit content, for example TV programmes, films and subscription sports channels without paying the appropriate subscriptions.”
