The State Police, on the orders of the District Attorney's Office of Catania, carried out a large-scale operation against audiovisual piracy. The investigations, coordinated by the Catania Prosecutor's Office and the Postal Police Service of Rome, led to the identification of a transnational criminal association, composed of 21 people, which operated in Italy and abroad.
The association was responsible for the distribution, to a very high number of users, of live programming and on-demand content protected by television rights, owned by the most famous television platforms. The content was distributed through the illegal IPTV system, with monthly profits of several million euros.
The investigations revealed that the suspects, to evade investigations, used encrypted messaging applications, fictitious identities and false documents. The latter were also used to register telephone numbers, credit cards, television subscriptions and server rentals.
The searches, carried out in several Italian cities, led to the seizure of numerous computer devices, including servers, routers, modems and smartphones. Over 100 thousand euros in cash, 10 cars and numerous credit cards were also seized.
Over 100 euros in cash and ten cars seized
The crimes charged to the suspects are transnational criminal association aimed at broadcasting television programming with conditional access, damage to information, data and computer programs, unauthorized access to a computer system, computer fraud.
The operation, which was supported by the personnel of the Cyber Security Operations Centers of Catania, Messina, Syracuse, Cosenza, Alessandria, Napoli, Salerno, Reggio Emilia, Pisa, Lucca, Livorno and Bari has allowed the illegal flow of IPTV and live streaming sites to be blocked.
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Article published on 19 December 2023 - 07:48
