A man who pocketed more than £1,000,000 off the back of an illegal Premier League football streaming ploy was jailed.
Steven Mills was the mastermind behind a huge criminal operation in which fans were sold ‘Firesticks’ that allowed them to watch live top-flight matches.
The 58-year-old ran his illicit business for five years through a private Facebook group that he claimed had more than 30,000 subscribers.
Investigators from the Premier League, West Mercia Police and anti-piracy organisation FACT also managed to identify at least 1,000 of his customers.
Mills, from Shrewsbury, pleaded guilty to multiple fraud offences in June last year at Shrewsbury Crown Court and was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison on October 6 last year.
He was also convicted of a separate offence for watching the illegal content he was supplying to others.
His service, which traded under the names Pikabox and Eyepeeteevee, provided primarily UK-based customers with a bespoke app and streaming devices, including Firesticks, to watch a wide range of sports and entertainment content.
The Premier League described the operation as ‘sophisticated’ and said that Mills took ‘significant steps’ to disguise his activity from detection, such as posting bundles of cash to suppliers and operating under a number of aliases.
A judge highlighted the use of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) and recorded tutorial videos which supported his customers to access the illegal content.
Content was also sold to a network of resellers who were put under investigation.
Police and FACT officials visited a number of the customers who paid for the service and served notices to cease illegal streaming activities with immediate effect.
Kevin Plumb, of the Premier League general counsel, said: ‘The sentence handed down by the crown court today once again clearly demonstrates the severity of piracy-related offences and the consequences that come with them.
‘It is vital that the public continue to be made aware of the dangers and criminality associated with using illegal streaming services.
‘We are aware that so-called “Firesticks” are being sold as a means of illegally accessing all kinds of content, and today’s judgment should remove any doubt that it is illegal and treated very seriously by the courts.’
Kieron Sharp, CEO of FACT, said: ‘FACT are committed to safeguarding the broadcast rights of our partners and we hope that the severity of the sentence sends out a clear message that piracy is a crime that is taken very seriously by the courts.’
Detective inspector Matt McNelis, from West Mercia Police, said: ‘This was a great example of partners from law enforcement and industry coming together to have a profound effect on this type of criminality.
‘It’s clear that no single agency alone can be as effective as closely coordinated teams working towards achieving an objective.
‘The investigation, run by the force cyber crime unit, utilised sensitive tactics to increase the preventative messaging during the arrest phase before following up again with FACT to disrupt and educate others linked to Mills earlier this year.’
Fans watching games illegally could risk fines of up to £50,000.
They could be slapped with a hefty fine if they use their Amazon Fire TV Stick devices to illegally stream Premier League games.
The warning games ahead of the Arsenal vs Everton final on Sunday as the police intellectual property crime unit is said to have stepped up efforts to tackle illegal streaming, BirminghamLive reports.
A man from London was jailed in February after he made £247,552 with his illegal streaming scheme.
Riki Adal, 43, of Allerton Road, Hackney, illegally streamed sports and movie channels and other premium TV content.
He was sentenced to 20 months imprisonment, suspended for 24 months, as well as a 20-day rehabilitation activity requirement after he pleaded guilty on November 2 last year.
It comes after a fraud gang pocketed £7,000,000 by illegally streaming Premier League games.
Five men were jailed after they sold illegal subscriptions for £10 a month subscription for access to watch every Premier League game online.
Legal subscriptions from Sky, BT Sport and Amazon Prime cost around £80 a month in comparison.
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