Pirate streaming, Gdf on 10,000 users between crypto payments and forged documents
Six major dealers and 89 sub-dealers were identified in the maxi-investigation by the Cagliari Criminal Investigation Department. International robberies in the USA. The risks for users
3' min read
Key points
3' min read
More than ten thousand users identified and now being identified between Agrigento and Varese, others coming from Brindisi. And then it will also be necessary to see for the other provinces.
This is the provisional balance of the maxi-investigation conducted by the Guardia di Finanza against pirate streaming. An enormous number of consumers who, in order to save money, have slipped into the web of the 'pezzotto': decoders, memory sticks and low-cost subscriptions to get live films, TV series and sporting events. All pirated.
The cryptocurrency shortcut
.Not only that. The investigation, according to Il Sole 24 Ore, has revealed a dark side that goes beyond copyright infringement: payments in cryptocurrencies, falsification of documents by users to avoid detection, international server networks. In Agrigento, one of the six dealers identified by the Gdf was alone moving a 50,000 euro per month turnover in litecoin. Digital money to be transited far from prying eyes, fuelling tax evasion and also offering new areas for money laundering.
The chain of command
.The Cagliari yellow flames have already tightened the circle around the six dealers, scattered over three regions, who are joined by 89 sub-dealers currently being identified. But the heart of the system is abroad. This is why the Cagliari Public Prosecutor's Office has launched rogatory letters in the United States, in an attempt to trace the path of the signals and reconstruct the map of the servers from which the pirate transmissions departed. A plot that goes from Italy to the Netherlands and overseas.
The investigation had started almost by chance, during a check in a club in the Cagliari hinterland, where financiers discovered in 2024 the abusive screening of pay-per-view content. From that first clue, an articulated criminal structure emerged, capable of intercepting thousands of users, selling subscriptions at 100-110 euro per year with a very wide range of audiovisual content inside. Prices that convinced a transversal public, ready to take risks.
