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British expat arrested in Alicante for selling illegal TV
The 62-year-old was caught flogging the pirate IPTV subscriptions in Benidorm bars
Police in Benidorm have foiled an illegal TV scam worth hundreds of thousands of euros and run by a British expat. The 62-year-old was reportedly selling pirate IPTV subscriptions for sports channels to bars and restaurants across the coastal resort.
The scam came to light when a broadcaster noticed ads on social media offering the sports channel it represents, among many others, for sale at a knock-down price. The media rep made a complaint and police set out to track down the culprit.
Their search began online where investigators found adverts not only for sporting channels, but for English, Irish and Scottish TV. The packages were selling for between £7 and £50, with the top choice offering 594 television stations. All of the payments were made to a UK bank account.
According to the scammer’s own profile, he had spent “ten years supplying IPTV to bars and restaurants in Benidorm with support 24 hours a day, seven days a week.”
Eventually, police tracked the account to a British citizen with a home in Benidorm, who made trips from the UK to the Costa Blanca several times a year. They obtained a search warrant for his Spanish property where they found two IPTV devices, a mobile phone and a laptop through which he was able to control the illegal TV services he installed.
Initial searches of his phone showed transactions of more than 10,000 euros on one banking app, but this was only the tip of the iceberg. Once the Technological Crimes Group gained access to another payment platform, they discovered that he had received money for almost 5,500 subscriptions. In total, the British man had raked in more than 185,000 pounds and 6,500 euros.
He has since been arrested for a crime against intellectual property related to the market and consumers.
Image: Policia Local
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