Modified Amazon Fire Stick Warning: Thousands of Ads for Pirate Services Found on Facebook Marketplace
A recent investigation by the Mirror has uncovered thousands of ads for modified Amazon Fire Sticks on Facebook Marketplace, which are being used to fund international piracy gangs. The Federation Against Copyright Theft (FACT) has vowed to crack down on the multi-billion pound fraud, which is estimated to cost the UK economy up to £21 billion a year.
According to the Mirror’s investigation, tens of thousands of adverts for pirate services are openly posted on Facebook, with many offering doctored Fire Sticks that provide bundles of thousands of channels for a few pounds a month. The ads are posted by over 100 different Facebook users, all accounts created in the last few months, and located across the country.
One seller, who was contacted by the Mirror, offered “All Sky channels, all sports channels, all football events, Netflix, HBO, Disney +, Amazon Prime and Apple” for as little as £2.50 a month. Prices started at £35 for a six-month subscription to £150 for a five-year deal. However, the seller falsely claimed that their service was legal, stating: “Don’t worry, we are providing services all over the UK.”
The Mirror’s investigation found that customers are urged to contact the criminals via Whatsapp, and the adverts are posted by over 100 different Facebook users. A single UK mobile number was found to be used across 800 Facebook Marketplace ads for Fire Stick “packages” for as little as £6.
Kieron Sharp, chairman of FACT, told the Mirror that users are also breaking the law and could be prosecuted. FACT is helping prosecute gangs like the ones found on Facebook. In the last five years, FACT has been involved in 23 prosecutions leading to 36 criminals being jailed for an average of nearly three years each.
Sharp, a former senior City of London Police detective and former head of the economic crime team at Interpol, said: “This has been a problem forever, since the days of pirated video cassettes and DVDs. But the rise of streaming has made things easier for the criminal in the same way as it has made things easier for the legal consumer.”
The Intellectual Property Office has estimated that 6.2m Brits access illegally streamed TV and 3.9m people watch pirated live sport. Sharp added: “We have adopted the attitude over the years that we would rather not criminalise the end user. If we take out a gang and they have a customer database, we would normally write to the consumers on that customer list telling them ‘What you are doing is breaking the law and you will have to stop’.”
However, Sharp warned that it is entirely possible that consumers could get swept up in investigations. He said: “It would be a discussion for everybody involved in the business to see if that is an area that we would want to go down. It could happen, it really could. I would never say to any of the consumers through the messaging that we do that they are not going to get prosecuted because that just isn’t correct.”
As an indication of the possible consequences for users of these services, when 29-year-old illegal Fire Stick seller Jonathan Edge, from Liverpool, was jailed for more than three years in November, he was also sentenced to two years and three months in prison for personally accessing and viewing the pirated content he distributed, to be served concurrently.
FACT told the Mirror that watching an illegal stream was an offence under the Fraud Act 2006, with a maximum penalty of five year’s imprisonment. However, there is a more immediate risk from Malware – or malicious software – that comes with doctored devices or illegal streams.
Fraudsters could raid your bank account, steal your identity and even hijack your camera and microphone. Sharp explained: “There is a risk from using these devices, it is not just us saying this. People should be warned about this. There’s a real risk of having your identity stolen or similar. If you give over your credit card details, you are giving them to criminals.”
Amazon said it had made changes to Fire TV to make it harder to stream pirated content and that it warned customers against “sideloaded apps”. An Amazon spokesperson said: “Pirated content violates our policies regarding intellectual property rights, and compromises the security and privacy of our customers. We remain vigilant in our efforts to combat piracy and protect customers from the risks associated with pirated content, which includes prohibiting apps that infringe upon the rights of third parties in our Appstore, and warning customers of the risks associated with installing or using apps from unknown sources.”
The Mirror’s investigation highlights the growing concern over modified Amazon Fire Sticks and the risks associated with using them. As the Federation Against Copyright Theft continues to crack down on the multi-billion pound fraud, it is essential for consumers to be aware of the risks and take necessary precautions to protect themselves.
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