BAD reception: Europol smash illegal TV stream affecting over one million subscribers across Europe

IN an announcement today, European police have successfully taken down an illegal TV streaming sevice that will affect viewers across Europe

Europol has supported the Dutch Fiscal Information and Investigation Service (FIOD) in taking down an illegal IPTV (Internet Protocol television) service serving over 1 000 000 users across Europe.

On 23 May, a series of raids were carried out across the Netherlands as part of an illegal streaming crackdown. The officers from the FIOD searched properties in various locations in The Netherlands.

Several individuals were arrested on suspicion of involvement in the illegal streaming of premium content.

Packages bought by subscribers gave them access to over 10 000 live TV channels, alongside library of 15 000 films and TV shows.

Europol’s European Financial and Economic Crime Centre supported this investigation with analytical support, helping identify the key targets and their criminal activity across Europe.

A number of operational meetings were organised by Europol to bring together the investigators in the different European countries affected by this criminal network.

Europol experts were also deployed in various locations in the Netherlands during the action day to support the FIOD in its enforcement activities.