Dutch police, Europol close down illegal tv streaming service

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Dutch financial crime investigators and Europol have taken down an illegal internet television service that had been providing streaming services to over 100,000 users across Europe. 

Raids took place across the Netherlands on Tuesday as part of the crackdown and four people were arrested in Almere and Den Helder, where the service was based, the FIOD said. Officials also seized a large quantity of cash, five cars, bank accounts and computer equipment. 

Packages bought by subscribers to the illegal service gave them access to over 10,000 television channels including Disney+ and Netflix, alongside library of 15,000 films and older television shows. 

They paid some €10 a month for the service, often in the form of cash payments made via internet cafes.

IPTV, or Internet Protocol TV, is not illegal in the Netherlands but it is illegal to offer subscriptions to services that have not been paid for. 

Intellectual property campaign group Stichting Brein said the case is the “biggest criminal investigation” into digital piracy the Netherlands has seen. 

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