In January 2022, the Danish Rights Alliance reported a case of organized sale of unauthorized access details to various streaming services, to the country’s National Unit for Special Crime (NSK).
Fronted by a Web shop, sales and communication took place among the criminals on a chat forum. The access credentials belonged to paying subscribers of streaming services without subscribers’ knowledge. Investigations by the Rights Alliance showed that access to illegal IPTV was sold, containing more than 100,000 films and series and access to Danish, Swedish and Norwegian TV channels with news, films, music, e-books and audiobooks.
According to NSK, the arrest was the result of a lengthy investigation. In November 2022, NSK conducted searches and arrested two suspected accomplices in the same case. This third individual’s residence was searched, and “several different IT effects” were seized.
About the Special Crime unit
The National Unit for Special Crime (NSK) is a nationwide special unit in the Danish police with approx. 1,100 employees. NSK handles the most complex and serious cases of financial crime, organized crime and cybercrime.
NSK also supports the Danish police with specialized expertise in areas such as forensics, IT investigation, analysis and intelligence.
NSK has its own public prosecutor’s office, which conducts the criminal cases where the investigation is based on NSK’s police work. Investigation and prosecution in NSK is targeted at those cases where the crime causes the most damage to society.
Further details
Three people have now been arrested for illegal file sharing and selling hacked access information to streaming services. Press release. July 5, 2023. RettigshedsAlliancen (Rights Alliance). Auto-translated from Danish to English by Google Translate
Why it matters
“This case is about an organized network that has made money from entertainment content and news at the expense of the rightful rights holders,” said NSK Police Commissioner Anders-Emil Nøhr Kelbæk in a press release. “It is very satisfying that, on the basis of a thorough investigation, we have now arrested another person whom we consider to have had a leading role in a network.”
“When access to content on the streaming services is sold unauthorized in criminal networks, it affects not only the services and the affected rights holders, but also the paying subscribers, whose access information is resold without their knowledge,” added Maria Fredenslund, director of the Rights Alliance. “We are therefore pleased that NSK has succeeded in finding the suspected masterminds, and we look forward to following the development of the case.”
