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As Italy's measures continue against pirate IPTV providers and any entity directly or indirectly associated with them, it's easy to lose sight of the fact that those who carry out infringement exist in the physical world.
Until suspects are confronted in this environment, the risk of recurring infringement never really goes away. Law enforcement in Italy will be hoping that an investigation in the city of Lecce will produce lasting results after uncovering a “sophisticated fraud scheme.”
Multi-Agency Investigation
Coordinated by the public prosecutor's office, the investigation aimed to uncover the identities of those behind a pirate IPTV reselling scheme.
The Economic and Financial Police Unit and digital forensics experts from the Guardia di Finanza were reportedly able to shine light on a complex operation. Content illegally obtained from legal platforms operated by Sky, DAZN, Netflix, and Mediaset, was bundled into packages for resale in Italy at a fraction of the usual price.
Law enforcement targeted four individuals, including a man who they believe is the main suspect behind a fairly large reselling operation. Dealing with the providers themselves or potentially someone else close to them, resellers buy subscription ‘credits' (1 month of viewing = 1 credit) mostly in bulk at a lower price than generally available to the public.
This allows the reseller to make a profit when selling subscriptions on to their own customers, although downsides include greater exposure to risk and in many cases the need to provide customer service.
The main suspect is said to have “managed an internet platform through which he rebroadcast encrypted content without any agreement with the legitimate distributors.” That appears to be a reference to the web interface (panel) used by resellers to manage customers, including the content they receive in their packages and for how long.
Follow-the-Money
According to investigators, the safest but less convenient option of receiving subscription payments in cash gave way to the suspects' use of prepaid Postepay payment cards. The Postepay service is provided by the Italian post office, Poste Italiane, which is controlled by Italy's Ministry of Economy and Finance through its majority shareholding.
Postepay cards must be registered to a person and a phone number and can't be bought for the use of a third party, at least in theory. Those who purchased pirate subscriptions from the suspects allegedly topped up the sellers' prepaid cards directly. Police say they were able to trace payments back to those selling the subscriptions.
Funds Were Reinvested
Investigators used banking records and other searches to quantify the sums involved in the operation, arriving at a figure in excess of 500,000 euros. These funds were reportedly reinvested in various assets to hide connections to illegal streaming subscriptions, but that doesn't appear to have been entirely effective.
At the Court of Lecce, a judge ordered the preventative seizure of five “immovable assets” and two vehicles, one of which is reported as “vintage.” All four suspects were reported for alleged violations of copyright law and related money laundering offenses.
The Guardia di Finanza says that its investigations will continue to identify other parties involved in the distribution network. Whether that is a strict reference to those explicitly involved in distribution is unclear but under new law passed in 2023, consuming/purchasing pirate subscriptions is illegal.
The possibility that a subscriber list will be surfaced, coupled with recent statements that consumers of illicit IPTV are set to receive fines, the potential for wider fallout can't yet be ruled out.
From: _, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.
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By David Minister
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