A 56 year old man was arrested for questioning on suspicion of enabling others to commit the offence of obtaining services dishonestly, and for money laundering; following an investigation in partnership with FACT. He was later released pending further enquiries.
Police accessed and disrupted the online platform, disabled suspected illegal streams and posted an on screen message to warn visitors that the content accessed is suspected to be unlawful.
“We are homing in on those who knowingly commit or facilitate online copyright infringement,” said Sgt. Ian Osborne of West Mercia’s Cyber Crime unit; noting that “it is unfair that millions of people work hard to afford their subscription-only TV services while others cheat the system.”
Read FACT’s news release
Why it matters
“Piracy is fraud and anyone motivated by financial gain from doing this needs to know that this is a crime which will be taken seriously,” said Kieron Sharp, CEO of the UK’s Federation Against Copyright Theft (FACT).
Sgt. Osborne added “It is also worth noting that this operation benefits those who are knowingly paying a criminal for their service as they are giving their personal and financial information to someone who is more than capable of exploiting them, their finances and their privacy.”
