Police dismantled an illegal content distribution network. Since the start of its operations in 2015, it has generated over €5,700,000. The investigation began in November 2022, following a complaint filed by the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE). Thus, it denounced two pages on the Internet for violating intellectual property rights. These sites hosted the illegal IPTV service “TVMucho,” also known as “Teeveeing,” which, according to ACE, generated more than 4 million visits in 2023.
Illegal IPTV service closed: customers may be fined!
After investigating the complaint, the police discovered that the owners of these sites were responsible for a large-scale IPTV operation. As such, it gave approximately 14,000 subscribers illegal access to 130 international TV channels and thousands of movies and series.
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“This international criminal organization used the latest technologies and the most advanced technical devices to capture signals emitted via satellites in several countries,” the police statement said.
“They then amplified and decrypted the multimedia content, which they then distributed publicly and illegally.
Subscribers to the service pay between 11 and 20.5 euros per month, or 97 and 182.5 euros annually. This depends on the subscription tier. Overall, it allowed IPTV platform operators to receive a total profit of €5.7 million.
Spanish police conducted searches in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Madrid, Oviedo and Malaga. As a result, eight people believed to be linked to the operation of the IPTV system were arrested.
The arrested individuals are believed to be following the leader of the network. A Dutch national is also under investigation.
Law enforcement officers confiscated computers and materials, 86,400 euros from bank accounts, and shut down servers that supported the operation of 16 illegal live streaming websites.
Meanwhile, visitors to illegal media streaming sites are now automatically redirected to the Spanish police website, where they can see a warning.
Naturally, users with active subscriptions should consider that their money has run out. However, this may not be your main concern at the moment.
Since servers containing information about subscribers have fallen into the hands of the police, fines will likely be imposed on people who choose to purchase access to illegal streaming services.
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