Europol and several law enforcement agencies across Europe coordinated to take down one of the largest illegal streaming networks and arrested nearly a dozen people tied to the operation.
In recent years, such networks have been set up both within the EU and globally using IPTV, a practice where television channels are delivered through broadband internet providers.
In the takedown announced on Wednesday, Europol said it investigated 102 suspects and arrested 11 of them on accusations they were distributing content from streaming services illegally.
The group pirated more than 2,500 television channels — most notably sports channels — to make them available to more than 22 million people worldwide.
According to a statement from the Italian District Attorney’s Office of Catania, the illegal IPTV operation earned the group €250 million ($263 million) per month and €3 billion each year. The illegal activity caused €10 billion worth of damage to streaming services annually.
Europol also accused the operation of also being involved in money laundering and cybercrime. More than 112 raids were conducted and 29 servers were seized, allowing law enforcement agencies to confiscate 270 IPTV devices.
During the raids, police also found drugs, weapons and about €1.7 million in cryptocurrency and cash.
“Europol supported this international case since its inception by organising several virtual meetings and hosting an operational meeting at the Europol Headquarters in The Hague,” officials said.
Law enforcement agencies from Bulgaria, Croatia, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Romania, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom were involved.
Italian officials called the takedown “the largest operation against audiovisual piracy ever conducted in Italy.”
Several different agencies in Italy spent more than two years organizing the operation.
“To evade investigations, the suspects allegedly used encrypted messaging applications, fictitious identities and false documents, also used to register telephone numbers, credit cards, television subscriptions and server rentals,” Italian officials said.
Most of the raids, about 89, were conducted in Italy while 14 were done across the other countries involved.
“A complex, extensive and widespread IT infrastructure that illegally served over 22 million end users, both nationally and internationally, has been dismantled,” Italian prosecutors said.
“In essence, with a sophisticated IT system — that of illegal IPTV – live programming and on-demand content protected by television rights, owned by the most well-known national and international television platforms, such as Sky, Dazn, Mediaset, Amazon Prime, Netflix, Paramount, Disney+, were illegally captured and resold.”
Last week, U.S. officials indicted two men for running another online subscription-based service that let users stream live sports and television shows.
Europol and Interpol have sought to be more proactive about cybercrime in 2024.
On Wednesday, Interpol announced an operation involving more than 40 countries that took down a network involved in voice phishing, romance scams, online sextortion, investment fraud, illegal online gambling, business email compromise fraud and e-commerce fraud.
More than 5,500 suspects were arrested and about $400 million was seized.
The five-month operation, known as HAECHI, was led by South Korean authorities who said the syndicate was responsible for $1.1 billion in losses from more than 1,900 victims.
In some instances, members of the criminal group would pretend to be law enforcement and use fake IDs to steal money.
“The effects of cyber-enabled crime can be devastating — people losing their life savings, businesses crippled, and trust in digital and financial systems undermined,” said Interpol Secretary General Valdecy Urquiza.
“The borderless nature of cybercrime means international police cooperation is essential, and the success of this operation supported by INTERPOL shows what results can be achieved when countries work together.”
Interpol unveiled another operation on Tuesday involving 1,006 arrests across several African countries.
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Jonathan Greig
is a Breaking News Reporter at Recorded Future News. Jonathan has worked across the globe as a journalist since 2014. Before moving back to New York City, he worked for news outlets in South Africa, Jordan and Cambodia. He previously covered cybersecurity at ZDNet and TechRepublic.
