A man who made over £2million from selling thousands of TV boxes that allowed his customers to watch Disney and Sky TV for free has been jailed for two and a half years.
Halton Mark Anthony Powell had been selling set-top boxes that had software installed which gave customers access to Sky's sports and film channels as well as Disney Plus, without paying.
The web designer launched Droidsticks Ltd. in 2013 and sold at least 24,000 of the boxes for around £100 each through eBay, his own website, and other retail outlets between December 2014 and March 2016.
But an investigation was launched in 2015 when an online marketplace reported a large number of the illegal boxes were being sold by an account owned by his company.
City of London Police’s Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU) revealed that Powell made a total of £2,344,949 in sales.
The set-top boxes were pre-loaded with a piece of software referred to as the ‘Droidsticks Wizard’ and this allowed users to install add-ons to access the premium channels free of charge.
Set-top boxes that contain this type of software at the point of sale are illegal and Powell's fraud was said to have cost Sky £14 million in lost subscription fees.
But despite making millions, the law eventually caught up with the 44-year-old when in April 2015 an undercover investigator from Sky bought one of the devices at shops in Chingford, East London and Powell was arrested soon after.
Police then seized 1,300 set-top boxes from a storage unit and another 121 boxes from Powell's shop.
Essex Live reports that during his police interview Powell answered 'no comment' to all questions, but he went on to admit supplying articles for use in fraud at Southwark Crown Court on August 23 this year.
Detective Sergeant Peter Gartland from PIPCU said: “Powell attempted to hide the illegitimate nature of his business by concealing evidence that he was selling products pre-configured to stream Sky Sports and Sky Cinema.
“However, PIPCU officers were able to prove he was aware the set-top boxes were being used for this purpose by thousands of customers.
“It is vital to remember that watching premium content without a subscription is illegal – and enabling access to it can land you with a criminal record, as this case shows.”
On Friday (November 11), Powell was sentenced to two years and six months in jail and the Crown Prosecution Service will commence proceedings for confiscation orders against any available assets.
Matt Hibbert, Sky’s Director of Anti-Piracy, UK & Ireland said: “We’d like to thank PIPCU for their support in bringing this case to a successful conclusion.
“The financial sums involved and the length of the sentence handed down today underline the seriousness of this type of criminality.
“We’ll continue to work with law enforcement and our industry partners to protect consumers and take action against those organisations intent on stealing our content.”
A date for confiscation proceedings will be set on 19 May.
