Jailed: Man made more than £1m with illegal TV services showing Premier League football, Sky and Disney
A Shropshire man who made more than a million pounds providing illegal TV services showing Premier League football, Sky and Disney Plus, has been jailed.
Through his firm 'Pikabox', Steven Mills, 58, of Yorton, Shrewsbury, provided set-top boxes, 'Firesticks', and apps to allow people to bypass TV subscriptions over the course of nearly four years – from October 2017 to July 2021.
He also offered virtual private network (VPN) services so customers could avoid detection by masking their IP addresses.
Shrewsbury Crown Court, sitting at Telford Justice Centre, heard that Mills had boasted of having more than 30,000 subscribers.
But Ari Alibhai, prosecuting, said that the number of transactions identified in Mills' PayPal account was actually around 15,000 – worth around £1.2m.
Judge, Recorder Richard McConaghy, was told that the enterprise had cost broadcasters millions of pounds.
Recorder McConaghy said that Mills had evidently made a good living from his criminal activities, and was told that at one point he was making £35,000 a month from the service.
