Notices served to Hertfordshire homes as suppliers of illegal streaming services targeted in UK-wide FACT initiative

In the past week FACT investigators and police officers from the Eastern Region Special Operations Unit (ERSOU) have visited addresses across the UK - including Hertfordshire - to serve Cease and Desist notices to individuals suspected of supplying illegal streaming services.

The initiative is aimed at preventing the illegal supply of IPTV streams.

Investigators have visited homes in Essex and Hertfordshire to serve notices informing suspects to cease any illegal activity with immediate effect.

FACT works with the Government Agency Intelligence Network (GAIN) to gather intelligence on and disrupt organised crime groups (OCGs) associated with this illegal activity.

This latest action targeted suspects who were promoting unauthorised access to premium television content, which affects broadcasters and rights owners in the UK and worldwide, causing financial harm to the industry and the economy.

Whilst all the individuals visited were operating at a relatively low level, the initiative was aimed at preventing them from undertaking further criminal activity and deterring others from getting involved.

The effective partnership between law enforcement agencies, rights holders and the private sector allowed for this co-ordinated action, with more actions of a similar nature planned to take place.

FACT will continue to monitor any ongoing offending and will take further action against persistent offenders.

Kieron Sharp, chief executive of FACT said: “We employ a range of tactics to prevent the provision of illegal streaming.

"Our continuous activity targets different elements of the global piracy landscape, with consideration given to the scale of the offending to ensure effective and proportionate action is taken.

“By taking these measures we are sending a clear message. Piracy is fraud and anyone motivated by financial gain from doing this needs to know that this is a crime which will be taken seriously by police.

“I would like to thank the GAIN and all the Police units for their assistance in this initiative and look forward to further collaboration.”

Paul Sanders, GAIN coordinator at ERSOU, said: “This initiative looks to not only cease illegal activity with immediate effect, but also to prevent further crimes taking place.

“GAIN is committed to ensuring that Government agencies and other partners work alongside the police to protect our communities from a wide range of criminality, and this activity is an example of our teams working collaboratively to disrupt and dismantle those involved in illicit activities.

“It’s important to remember that the public may be risking their personal and financial information by engaging with illegal services, and we will continue to support FACT in their endeavours to prevent illegal content provision.”

This initiative is the latest in a series of actions to crackdown on illegal streaming and those profiting from it.

FACT is a world-leading intellectual property protection organisation protecting brands, creators and businesses from intellectual property crime. It is at the forefront of the fight against digital piracy and fraud on behalf of rights holders and content creators.