CEE
Greek police shut down pirate IPTV streaming service
According to a report by TorrentFreak, an IPTV service that has yet to be named was shut down by Greek police, and ten men were arrested, a dozen cars seized, and over €100.000 in cash was seized. This was all done in a seizure of coordinated raids targeting the group that ran the IPTV streaming services.
“To collect the profits, the defendants chose manual collection, collection through digital banks based abroad, as well as through payments into their own and their family members’ bank accounts. In addition, in order to have full awareness and control of their clientele, the leading members of the criminal organization for each portal used a special subscriber management program (panel), which they installed on a computer or mobile phone,” the police said in a statement. The service is alleged to have caused upwards of €100m in losses to TV companies, including Cosmote, Nova, and Vodafone. Currently serving around 13.000 local subscribers, the group reportedly generated over €25 million in profit, although no supporting calculations were made available. The packages sold to customers reportedly included access to a VOD (video-on-demand) library containing films and TV series, none of which were distributed with permission from rightsholders. Police say that a criminal case was launched against the defendants on various grounds. They include founding and participating in a criminal organization, crimes against intellectual property, and money laundering offenses. Police say that the group “legalized their criminal income” through real estate purchases, the establishment of individual companies, and through unnamed betting companies. Officers also seized six luxury cars and six motorcycles, promising that those arrested would face the competent prosecuting authority. RELATED
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