Pirate IPTV: Police Target 13 Suspects, Seize 620K Euros in Cash/Crypto

Italian authorities are reporting that officers of the Special Privacy Protection and Technological Fraud Unit of the Guardia di Finanza of Rome have carried out a new operation against pirate IPTV.

Acting on a decree issued by the Public Prosecutor at the Court of Milan, 12 Italian nationals and one person of Albanian origins, living in several regions of Italy and Germany, were targeted on suspicion of operating social media channels dedicated to pirate IPTV subscription sales/resales.

While the announcement itself offers no specifics in respect of the suspects’ locations, a police video published today contains a slide showing maps of Italy and Germany and various marked locations.

“In Frankfurt, Germany, the operations were conducted against two Italian subjects, through international judicial cooperation channels coordinated by Eurojust with the collaboration of the State Police of Hesse – Police Headquarters of Frankfurt – through a European Investigation Order issued by the Judicial Authority of Milan,” the announcement reads.

620K Euros in Cash/Crypto Seized, 60 Telegram Channels Shut Down

Police say that the decree issued by the Public Prosecutor allowed them to shut down 60 resources/channels on Telegram and a website used to sell the subscriptions. None of these channels were mentioned by name, so trying to confirm shutdowns or otherwise is impossible.

However, police did reveal that the organizers used a Telegram channel called ‘Impero IPTV’ (Empire IPTV) as a meeting point.

While we can’t rule out the police having another channel in mind, as far as we can see the Impero IPTV channel hasn’t been shut down and still has almost 250 members. Whether any have any cash to hand is up for debate.

Police say that a detailed investigation allowed financial experts to identify accounts opened by the suspects on digital payment portals, money transfer services, and cryptocurrency exchanges. As a result they were able to seize assets worth over 620,000 euros.

“It should be noted that the criminal proceedings still concern the preliminary investigation phase and that the responsibility of the suspects will be definitively ascertained only in the event of an irrevocable sentence of conviction,” police conclude.