The IPTV network used by 22 million people has been taken down.

The Italian law enforcement agencies, in collaboration with Europol, Eurojust, and other international authorities, achieved a historic success in the fight against digital piracy. Thanks to a large-scale operation, a massive piracy network that provided illegal IPTV services and reached 22 million users worldwide was completely dismantled.

THE LARGEST OPERATION

The Italian State Police targeted 102 suspects as part of "Operation Taken Down," which is described as the largest operation ever conducted against audiovisual piracy. More than 270 Italian police officers and their international counterparts carried out raids in various regions of Italy, as well as in the UK, Netherlands, Romania, Croatia, and China.

250 MILLION EUROS PER MONTH

During the operation, over 2,500 illegal channels were identified, and it was determined that the main servers used for the pirate streams were located in Romania and Hong Kong. In addition to the capture of three high-level executives in the UK and the Netherlands, 11 people were detained in Croatia. Officials discovered 80 control panels used to manage broadcasting channels across Italy. In the IPTV network operation, which earned 250 million euros per month, 100 domain names were taken down, and 270 IPTV devices were seized. Additionally, over 560 dealers were shut down.

The Italian law enforcement agencies, in collaboration with Europol, Eurojust, and other international authorities, achieved a historic success in the fight against digital piracy. Thanks to a large-scale operation, a massive piracy network that provided illegal IPTV services and reached 22 million users worldwide was completely dismantled.

RAIDS IN MANY COUNTRIES

The Italian State Police targeted 102 suspects as part of "Operation Taken Down," which is described as the largest operation ever conducted against audiovisual piracy. More than 270 Italian police officers and their international counterparts carried out raids in various regions of Italy, as well as in the UK, Netherlands, Romania, Croatia, and China.

Authorities seized 1.6 million euros worth of cryptocurrency and 40,000 euros in cash belonging to the managers of the piracy network during the operation. However, this amount pales in comparison to the annual revenue of 3 billion euros generated from piracy activities. The annual financial damage caused by the illegal service is estimated to be 10 billion euros.

The piracy network illegally provided content from major platforms such as Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney Plus, Sky, Dazn, and Mediaset to users. Live and on-demand content was resold through a wide organizational network.

HOW DID IT WORK?

The illegal organization drew attention with its "mafia-like" structure. Each member played a specific role within the network. They opened mobile accounts using fake identities and documents to obtain credit cards, rented servers, and completed registration processes for TV subscriptions. They also managed to conceal their communications by using encrypted messaging applications.

The operation, carried out as a result of a two-year investigation, once again highlighted the importance of international cooperation in the fight against digital piracy. Under the leadership of Europol and the Italian police, the complex structure of the piracy network was deciphered, and the illegal IPTV service accessed by millions of users worldwide was disabled.