Virgin Media hits fraudster with £2.5m writ
February 10, 2014
By Chris Forrester
A former employee of Virgin Media, Paul Hartrick, who headed up the cable company’s team in Derby, UK, is being pursued with a claim for about £2.5 million (€3m) in lost profits for the company.
Hartrick was convicted in February last year when Derby Crown Court found him and three others guilty of importing set-top boxes from Korea in what the court described as a “sophisticated scam” which cost Virgin Media “up to £32 million” in lost revenues.
Hartrick sold these illegal boxes to customers for a one-off payment of £120. The four accused all pleaded guilty. Hartrick was jailed for 5 years.
Virgin told the Court that it estimated that up to 22,000 people were viewing the ‘free’ signals, and the scam ran for about 2 years.
In its new claim, Virgin says that with 6,600 customers paying a monthly fee of £31 would have generated profits of £2.45 million, which is the basis of its action.