International criminal network dismantled by paying for pay-TV services

An international criminal network was dismantled who was committing fraud with provision of pay-TV services.

ΗThe case was investigated in a pan-European operation, coordinated by Eurojust, with the involvement of the Cybercrime Prosecution Directorate.

In our country, a local was arrested and a regular procedure case was filed against another national.

The financial damage from the action of the criminal network amounts to approximately (6.500.000) euros.

The Cybercrime Prosecution Directorate and the Cybercrime Prosecution Sub-Directorate of Northern Greece participated in a pan-European operation, coordinated by E urojust, which dismantled an international criminal network that committed fraud by providing pay-TV services.

A 31-year-old native was arrested in our country for the case, while a regular procedure case was filed against a 27-year-old native, for violating the legislation on intellectual property and the protection of subscription services.

A preliminary investigation by the Italian authorities revealed the existence of an organized criminal network operating for the purpose of illegal retransmission of pay-TV services, with the payment of a monetary price lower than the legal assistance.

Specifically, it turned out that the criminal network operated in Italy, Switzerland, Malta, Greece, the Netherlands, Germany, France and Bulgaria, since 2015.

For the illegal retransmission of the TV signal, a software platform was used, offered by a company based in Bulgaria, with legal representatives, the locals.

Due to the expanded activity of the criminal network, it was decided to carry out a joint operation of the Authorities of the countries involved, with the coordination of Eurojust.

In this context, yesterday morning (September 18, 2019) police officers of the Cybercrime Prosecution Directorate conducted a search of the 27-year-old's home where the field investigation revealed his access to the management environment (8) of servers, while they found and confiscated:

• (4) IPTV devices,
• (3) laptops,
• (3) internal data storage hard drives,
• external storage media (USB STICK),
• internal storage media (micro SD),
• mobile device,
• (2) SIM cards,
• (4) bank cards,
• digital cryptocurrency storage device,
• banknote counter and documents related to bank accounts, transactions and other handwritten notes.

At the same time, during a search of police officers of the Cybercrime Prosecution Sub-Directorate of Northern Greece at the home of the 31-year-old, the following were found and confiscated:

• (24) IPTV devices,
• portable computer,
• (6) internal data storage hard drives,
• (3) external storage media (USB STICK),
• internal storage media (micro SD),
• mobile device,
• (2) SIM cards,
• (6) bank cards,
• Internet storage device (NetworkAttachedStorage - NAS).
• digital cryptocurrency storage device,
• seal with company logo,
• passbook,
• (114.550) euros and
• documents relating to bank accounts and transactions and other handwritten notes.

It is noted that during the pan-European operation, more than (200) servers were shut down and more than (145) PayPal accounts of those involved were blocked, while the signal for viewers of illegal pay-TV services in Europe, which benefited from this supply, paying subscriptions much lower than market prices.

The financial damage caused by the criminal activity amounts to, according to announcement of Eurojust, in the amount of approximately (6.500.000) euros, endangering the operation of many legitimate pay-TV service providers in the market.

The confiscated digital evidence will be sent to the Directorate of Criminological Investigations and the Sub-Directorate of Criminological Investigations of Northern Greece, respectively, for the performance of laboratory expertise.

The case against the 27-year-old will be submitted to the competent investigating authority, while the 31-year-old arrested is being taken today to the competent Prosecutor.

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