Two Greeks seen behind Europe-wide illegal TV streaming platform
Two Greeks aged 27 and 31 are suspected of being the brains behind a Europe-wide illegal television streaming platform believed to be responsible for causing an estimated 6.5 million euros' worth of damage to licensed pay-TV providers, Greece's Athens-Macedonian News Agency reported on Thursday.
The suspects were arrested in Athens and Thessaloniki, respectively, as part of a Europe-wide crackdown on the illegal television supplier that was spearheaded by Italian authorities and included raids in Greece, Germany, the Netherlands, France and Bulgaria.
Among other discoveries in the Greek operation, electronic crimes investigators found eight servers and four streaming devices, as well as a plethora of evidence that police hope will provide valuable information into the gang's financial transactions, including bank documents, cryptocurrency wallets and numerous handwritten notes, in the home of the 27-year-old.
The home of the 31-year-old, meanwhile, yielded 24 IPTV streaming boxes, numerous storage devices, another cryptocurrency wallet, a stamp with the company's logo, a bank deposit book and 114,550 euros in cash, among others.
Eurojust, which coordinated the operation, said more than 200 servers were taken offline in other European Union countries and over 150 PayPal accounts believed to have belonged to gang members were blocked.
