Number of UK consumers who stream sports illegally has gone ‘through the roof’, police say

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The head of the British Intellectual Property Unit said that the number of people who flow or other channels in the United Kingdom has gone “across the ceiling”-and it is straining the police forces already offered in their efforts to try consumers who raise the law.
Emma Warbi, chief investigating inspector and head of the Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU) in London Police, admitted that individuals were largely able to use “broken” fire sticks without the risk of arrest by her team, as officers targeted organized crime groups and spread at the head of such plans.
She said that the use of online or “sticks” TV boxes that can be used to illegally flow the content has become increasingly spread, which is warned of broadcasters against the deviation of the sports rights market.
These boxes can be downloaded in advance with programs that can illegal flow Sport And channels from all over the world.
Warri said it would be wrong to conclude that the use of illegal currents to watch sports and other paid TV content was a risk -free way to watch the media, noting fraud and financing for organized crime gangs.
She said that her team focused the efforts made on the treatment of “sellers and people in the top of the tree” given “it is really difficult to prevent people from doing it.”
“We always follow the money and go to the larger organized crime groups and the largest organized crime networks,” she added.
Annchins and law enforcement employees raised fears that the increase in illegal use Running The devices helped normalize piracy for many sports enthusiasts in the UK and parts of Europe.
The rise of pirated sport risk undermining the value of exclusive football and other sports throughout the United Kingdom and Europe, and warning, with concerns that the use of illegal tables was seen as a victim’s crime.
Warbi said that the police discovered clear links between pirated sports with money laundering and fraud, making users more cautious.
“These criminals use these money, your money that you gained hard, and to get a lot of different things, usually drugs, forced labor, people trafficking, and huge sums of other criminals that feed on them, so it is not a crime without a victim.”
Warri said that the police used the messages “stopping and stop” initially with sellers of the lowest level of illegal TV services. “We mainly say,” We know what you are doing, this is the law that breaks it, and if you communicate, we will come and pour you down. “
Such messages can be “very effective … because it is very dominant in the UK. If you are twenty -second your age do it from your bedroom and the police attend, this is a big effect. We cannot arrest everyone in the UK.
Warbi also warned that many consumers would not also realize that they were providing their personal details to the scammers and organized crime groups, which raises the risk of fraud.
She said that the cost of the living crisis has added to the cases of people already increasingly using illegal but cheaper to watch sports.

Last month, The Amazon sky criticized To not do more to treat the use of fire sticks in the pirate stroke content. It is estimated that Amazon sticks represents about half of the illegal football in the Premier League in the UK alone, which costs the industry “hundreds of millions of dollars”.
Amazon said it banned the sale of illegal broadcasting devices in the market as well as on applications that violate the rights of third parties. “It included warnings on the device to inform customers of the risks associated with installing or using applications from unknown sources,” Fire TV added.
The London City Police has the honor to efforts to address piracy as a fraud leadership, although the Warbey team is funded by the Intellectual Property Office.
Companies like Sky can also implement private prosecutions and can work with other police forces throughout the country. Sky has won an order in the Supreme Court forcing Internet service providers to prevent piracy services from being able to broadcast football and television programs illegally.
Criminal investigations and court cases can take months, which means that resources must be allocated to the largest criminal gangs. Last year, the Warbey team was part of an international police operation that closed one of the largest online illegal broadcasting services in the world, which is used by about 22 million people worldwide. One of her longest cases will go to court in October.
Such cases highlighted the need to go to criminals “at the top of the tree, [who] She said he would have tens of thousands of sellers throughout the country who sell it.
She said she was not just a pirated sport. Criminals also sell access to any TV programs and channels that are not available or need to be paid in the United Kingdom. This also works in the other direction, as the gangs sell only British currents like iPlayer in Europe.
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2025-04-18 04:00:00