22m home TV pirate takedown
November 28, 2024
By Colin Mann
Law enforcement authorities across Europe, supported by Europol and Eurojust, have taken down one of the largest illegal streaming networks operating within and outside the EU.
The investigation targeted 102 suspects, 11 of whom were arrested, for distributing material from streaming services online illegally, including movies and series. They also pirated more than 2,500 television channels such as sports broadcasters, making them available to over 22 million users worldwide without the consent of the copyright holders. In addition to intellectual property crime (copyright infringement), there are indications of further crimes, such as money laundering and cybercrime, which are currently under investigation.
Results of the operation include:
- 102 suspects identified
- 11 people arrested
Over 112 house searches conducted - At least 29 servers seized
- 100 domains taken down
- 270 IPTV equipment/devices seized
- Over 560 resellers identified
- Various drugs and weapons seized
- Around €1.6 million in cryptocurrency and €40,000 in cash seized
To evade authorities, the suspects allegedly used encrypted messaging services to communicate and false identities to register phone numbers, credit cards, server rentals and television subscriptions. Collaboration between authorities was set up at Eurojust to take down the streaming service. Coordination meetings at Eurojust’s headquarters allowed authorities from Italy, Croatia, the Netherlands, Romania, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom to work together on the investigation and plan the operation to shut down the service and arrest the suspects. Europol supported the operation by deploying experts and analysing the available intelligence during the investigation phase.
Europol supported this international case since its inception by organising several virtual meetings and hosting an operational meeting at the Europol Headquarters in The Hague. During the investigation phase, Europol analysed the available intelligence, provided cross-match reports and coordinated the next steps with Eurojust. Collaboration between authorities was set up at Eurojust to take down the streaming service. On the action day, Europol experts were deployed to Croatia, Italy and the United Kingdom with mobile offices and to provide forensic support.
Participating countries:
Bulgaria, Croatia, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Romania, Sweden, Switzerland, UK
Participating agencies:
Europol, Eurojust, Audiovisual Anti-Piracy Alliance (AAPA), @ON Network
Mark Mulready, Co-president of AAPA, said: “We applaud the efforts of the Catania Public Prosecutor’s Office, the Croatian State Attorney Office for Suppression of Corruption and Organised Crime, Europol, Eurojust, and all of the law enforcement agencies involved in these operations. The scale of these multi-jurisdictional law enforcement actions highlights the considerable challenge our industry faces when dealing with such sophisticated international pirate networks. We are proud to have collaborated with our law enforcement partners to provide technical training and in-field support to assist them in successfully tackling the world’s largest pirate network.”
“We are very grateful to the AAPA members who supported this action day, including Premier League, Sky Group, Nagravision, Deutsche Fußball Liga (DFL), beIN Sports, United Media, Friend MTS and Irdeto. We will continue to closely collaborate with law enforcement agencies in Europe and beyond to enable them to successfully identify, investigate and prosecute large-scale cross-border pirate networks,” he added.