Illegal site for film streaming made millions

A 32-year-old man has been arrested on a Dodecanese island for running a website that allowed people to watch films for free, from which he and others are thought to have made up to 200,000 euros per day.

Along with a 28-year-old, who has also been charged with breaching intellectual property rights, the suspect is alleged to have managed a page that redirected visitors to hosting sites from which they could stream the films, which were often the latest releases. Police are searching for several other people who are thought to have been involved.

Before viewing the film of their choice, visitors to the site were forced to watch a 1-minute advert, which was the website’s source of revenue. It is estimated that some 930,000 films were viewed via the site every day and that the state lost 230 million euros in tax revenues as a result. The royalties that were not paid are estimated at some 465 million euros.