UK: Lancashire police arrest 28-year old living high off 32,000 subs

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The Audiovisual Anti-Piracy Alliance, a European organization with members from the media & entertainment and technology communities, supported an anti-piracy operation conducted by the Lancashire Economic Crime Unit in Blackpool, supported by the Force Cyber Unit, which resulted in the June 25th arrest of a 28 year-old “on suspicion of fraud and money laundering.”

The man delivered illegal streaming Web services to about 32,000 subscribers over the Web and to illicit streaming devices, which produced sufficient proceeds to fund an expensive life-style.  The police seized two high-end automobiles, a variety of luxury goods, about £100k in bank accounts and an additional £14k in cryptocurrency.   Police had been monitoring the sale of some of these goods via social media.

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Read the June 26 news release from the Lancashire Constabulary

Read the July 8 news release from AAPA

Why it matters

DS Mark Riley of Lancashire’s Economic Crime Unit said it well: “People who buy these devices over social media might not realise that they are illegal, but the fact is they are, and we believe that the people who sell them know that.

“What may cost you a relatively small one-off fee, actually results in television producers and sports broadcasters losing millions of pounds which affects their ability to make and show sports events and entertainments series, which many of us enjoy watching. It also deprives society of tax revenues. That said, the social media pages – that we are aware of – where these items are being sold, are in the process of being removed.

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