In what might be one of the largest illegal streaming busts ever, authorities have taken down a massive IPTV operation that served over 22 million users worldwide and generated more than £215 million (€250 million) in illegal profits every month.
The operation, which took place on November 26, involved coordinated raids across multiple European countries, including five locations in England, and led to the arrest of 11 suspects.
The economic damage to legitimate content providers, including Sky and the Premier League, is estimated at a staggering £8.6 billion.
Understanding IPTV: Legal vs Illegal
Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) is simply the name of the technology that delivers television content over the internet, rather than through traditional terrestrial, satellite, or cable TV formats.
In fact, any streaming service operates via IPTV – Netflix, Disney+, BBC iPlayer, etc. Those IPTV-based services are, of course, legal and are paying the necessary royalties to content providers.
However, many unauthorized services also present themselves as “IPTV”, and the term has unfortunately become associated with illegal streaming services that pop up online, often available through websites or “jailbroken” streaming devices.
And here’s something important to remember – it’s not just the people running these services who face legal consequences.
Just last week, we reported how Liverpool resident Jonathan Edge not only got jail time for selling illegal streams, but received an additional sentence specifically for watching Premier League matches illegally himself.
The European Operation by the Numbers
The scale of the operation that was taken down this week dwarfs previous IPTV shutdowns we’ve reported on.
In total, over 270 officers conducted more than 100 searches across Europe, including 89 property searches in 15 Italian regions and five addresses in England.
Additional raids were carried out in the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, Romania, France, Bulgaria, Germany and Croatia.
During the coordinated action, authorities seized at least 29 servers and shut down 100 domains. The operation also identified more than 560 resellers connected to the network.
The financial impact was substantial, with law enforcement seizing £1.38 million in cryptocurrency and £34,000 in cash, along with 270 pieces of IPTV equipment.
The illegal service had been pirating more than 2,500 television channels with films and TV shows, including premium Sky Sports channels and exclusive Premier League content.
A Complex International Operation
This wasn’t your typical case of someone selling dodgy Firesticks from their living room.
The criminals behind this massive operation went to extraordinary lengths to avoid detection, using encrypted messaging services and creating false identities for various subscriptions and rentals.
The City of London Police had to team up with law enforcement agencies across Europe to bring them down. When “action day” finally came, police experts with mobile forensic labs were deployed across multiple countries for coordinated raids.
While most illegal streaming operations we report on involve modified devices being sold locally, this was more like a full-blown criminal enterprise:
- They had over 560 resellers spreading their services across different countries
- They set up professional-looking websites and apps to fool customers
- They used cryptocurrency to hide their money trails
- They ran networks of servers across various countries to keep their streams running
To put it in perspective: this network wasn’t just streaming a few football matches – they had built an infrastructure capable of pirating thousands of TV channels simultaneously and delivering them to millions of users.
It was like running a major TV company – just without any of the licenses or legal rights to do so.
Impact on UK Streaming Users
This shutdown marks another significant blow to illegal IPTV services in the UK, following several major operations we’ve reported on this year.
Earlier this year, two brothers from Ilford were sentenced to a combined 11 years for running a similar, though much smaller, operation.
In July 2024, the Cheshire Police Cyber Crime Unit arrested a 51-year-old man in Widnes for allegedly selling modified Amazon Fire TV Sticks and other streaming devices.
That early morning raid uncovered a substantial cache of evidence, including modified streaming devices, computers, phones, digital satellite television boxes, cryptocurrency, and cash.
How to Identify Illegal IPTV Services
With illegal streaming operations becoming increasingly sophisticated, it’s more important than ever to know how to spot them.
Here are the key warning signs:
1. Suspiciously Low Prices
- Access to premium Sky Sports channels at a fraction of official costs
- Multiple premium services bundled for unrealistically low fees
- “Lifetime” subscriptions to premium content
2. Content Offerings
- Access to every Premier League match (under one service) when this isn’t legally possible in the UK
- Immediate availability of newly released films still in cinemas
- Complete packages of premium channels from multiple countries
3. Technical Setup
- Requirement to use specific apps not available in official app stores
- Instructions to disable security settings or antivirus software
- Requests to install suspicious certificates or VPNs
4. Payment Methods
- Cryptocurrency-only payments
- Requests for direct bank transfers to personal accounts
- Payment through informal channels like WhatsApp or Telegram
5. Website and Service Features
- No official business address or registration details
- Poor grammar and spelling on websites
- Limited or non-existent customer service
- Websites that frequently change addresses
The bottom line? If the streaming service being advertised sounds too good to be true – it often is.
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