Police bust pirate streaming service making €250 million per month

An international law enforcement operation has dismantled a pirate streaming service that served over 22 million users worldwide and made €250 million ($263M) per month.

Italy's Postal and Cybersecurity Police Service announced the action, codenamed "Taken Down," stating they worked with Eurojust, Europol, and many other European countries, making this the largest takedown of its kind in Italy and internationally.

"More than 270 Postal Police officers, in collaboration with foreign law enforcement, carried out 89 searches in 15 Italian regions and 14 additional searches in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, Romania, Croatia, and China, involving 102 individuals," reads the announcement.

"As part of the investigative framework initiated by the Catania Prosecutor's Office and the Italian Postal Police, and with international cooperation, the Croatian police executed 11 arrest warrants against suspects."

"Additionally, three high-ranking administrators of the IT network were identified in England and the Netherlands, along with 80 streaming control panels for IPTV channels managed by suspects throughout Italy," mentions the police in the same announcement.

The pirated TV and content streaming service was operated by a hierarchical, transnational organization that illegally captured and resold the content of popular content platforms.

The copyrighted content included redistributed IPTV, live broadcasts, and on-demand content from major broadcasters like Sky, Dazn, Mediaset, Amazon Prime, Netflix, Disney+, and Paramount.

The police say that these illegal streams were made accessible through numerous live-streaming websites but have not published any domains.

It is estimated that the amount of financial damages suffered annually from the illegal service is a massive €10 billion ($10.5B).

These broadcasts were resold to 22 million subscribed members via multiple distribution channels and an extensive seller network.

As a result of operation "Taken Down," the authorities seized over 2,500 illegal channels and their servers, including nine servers in Romania and Hong Kong.

"Over 2,500 illegal channels and servers were seized that managed the majority of the illicit signals in Europe, with which the alleged fraudsters achieved an illegal turnover of over 250 million euros per month," reads the announcement.

Moreover, the police confiscated cryptocurrencies valued at over €1.65 million ($1.74M) and another €40,000 in cash ($42,000).

The two-year investigation revealed the criminals' use of encrypted communication apps, fake identities, and forged documents to evade detection.

The arrested individuals now face charges related to illegal streaming of audiovisual content via IPTV, unauthorized system access, computer fraud, and money laundering.