Walter Finch
AN illegal streaming service that offered premium TV content to customers across Spain has been dismantled.
Raids were carried out on homes in Malaga and Jaen belonging to a family headed up by a matriarch, with nine arrests.
The group was selling illegal access to paid television channels and content, providing customers with modified decoder boxes and instructions on how to bypass paying the legitimate service providers.
Thousands of users across Spain were signed up to this large-scale TV piracy operation.
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The investigation began in December 2023 after the Audiovisual Producers’ Rights Management Entity (EGEDA) filed a complaint against the website offering the illegal service.
Police discovered that the €5 million organisation was run by a family clan of ‘Malaga entrepreneurs’ who had had a history of illegal activities in the content broadcasting sector.
They laundered their profits through numerous properties valued at more than €3.25 million, which were registered under the name of the matriarch.
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Investigators revealed that the group sold decoders and administration panels with access to ‘cardsharing’ servers—a method for sharing access to paid services.
These devices were distributed to thousands of customers nationwide, along with specific instructions on how to manipulate the decoders by installing firmware that enabled illegal access to television and audiovisual content.
To legitimise their activities, the suspects operated through five different companies with various business purposes.
Police conducted six raids — one in Marmolejo (Jaen) — targeting various properties, including business premises and a warehouse used for storing equipment.
Additionally, two more individuals were interviewed as persons of interest but were not detained.
The economic investigation into the services offered by the suspects led authorities to analyze more than 60 bank accounts, revealing net profits exceeding €5 million from illegal payments during the investigated period.
This figure does not include the damages caused to the rightful content owners.
The suspects face charges related to intellectual property crimes, fraud, and money laundering.
