Know anyone with a dodgy box?
Earlier this week, Gardaí from The Intellectual Property Crime Unit (IPCU) of the Garda National Bureau of Criminal Investigation, conducted an operation targeting illegal IPTV streaming services.
Searches were carried out in two houses in Crumlin and Ashbourne on Tuesday morning.
Four people (two women aged 37 and 40 years and two men aged 42 and 45 years) were arrested and detained under Section 4 – Criminal Justice Act, 1984 in Crumlin and Ashbourne Garda Stations and were later released.
This operation is the culmination of an investigation by An Garda Síochána into the illegal streaming of TV content including pay per view products.
It has been carried out in conjunction with police forces in England and Scotland, while Europol has provided assistance on this Day of Action and Europol officers are on the ground with Gardaí in Ireland.
This weekend, The Sunday Times are reporting that subscribers to illegal TV streaming services may be contacted by Gardaí as part of an investigation.
According to the report: “The investigators were assisted by staff from subscription TV services Sky and Virgin Media.
“Gardaí, who seized computers containing customer databases, are expected to track down people who paid for the services. It is unclear whether they can be charged with purchasing and accessing pirated content.”
At the time of the arrests earlier in the week, Detective Superintendent George Kyne of the Garda National Bureau of Criminal Investigation said: “This is an organised criminal enterprise where consumers are funding criminality and depriving genuine industry of legitimate revenue.
“Consumers are providing their payment details to unknown individuals and leaving themselves open to being the victims of fraud and/or data theft. The security around these devices and illegal streaming platforms exposes customers and leaves their home systems vulnerable. It is important that the public is aware of the impact of illegal streaming and its consequences.”
LISTEN: You Must Be Jokin’ with Aideen McQueen – Faith healers, Coolock craic and Gigging as Gaeilge
