AN F1 fan has warned Brits not to illegally stream after cyber crooks targeted his bank account.
The 46-year-old from the Northwest of England – who has asked to remain anonymous – was referred to a cheap streaming site which gives users access to premium channels including Sky Sports.
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His friends had used the platform before and recommended it, so he assumed all was safe.
But shortly after entering his bank details a surge of transactions were attempted on his account totalling several thousand pounds.
“A couple of friends had already done it and they had no issues,” he revealed to The Sun.
“It all seemed quite secure, so I didn’t even think at the time.
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“After that, the payment was taken but there were all sorts of transactions on my bank account for quite a large amount of money which were on various times and various dates for different amounts.
“It’s scary really, they attempted thousands.”
His account was riddled with attempted transactions for £3,500, £2,000 and others.
Scammers had tried to load money onto travel money cards and used unregistered mobile phones so they couldn’t be traced.
Fortunately, the bank’s fraud detection team picked up on the bizarre spending patterns and managed to block them before any money was lost.
The Briton urged others not to take the risk and pay for legitimate TV services.
“Let’s be honest, there’s a lot of people out there who do it, mainly because these things are available to people and people are naive,” he said.
But not everyone is so lucky.
Those who illegally stream content lose £5,486 on average to scams compared to those who don’t, according to BeStreamwise and Sapio.
“Illegal streaming is not a low-risk loophole—it’s a criminal offence with serious consequences,” said Kieron Sharp, Chairman of anti piracy organisation FACT UK told The Sun.
“These platforms don’t just offer free content; they expose users to malware, fraud, and identity theft while fuelling organised crime.
“We’re partnering with industry and law enforcement to strengthen the crackdown, with piracy operators facing major prison sentences and action being taken against the use of dodgy devices.”
Authorities have been cracking down on operators behind illegal streaming, knocking on doors across the UK and beyond.
Last year, a major series of raids across Europe took place leading to a huge network used by 22million people being shut down.
Five addresses in the UK were stormed, along with suspects in Bulgaria, Croatia, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Romania, Sweden and Switzerland.
The biggest part was carried out in Italy, where 270 officers searched 89 properties in 15 Italian regions.
Liz Bales, CEO of the British Association for Screen Entertainment and the Digital Entertainment Group International (DEGI) said: “The reality of illegal streaming is far more dangerous than people realise.
“Millions of consumers have been exposed to scams, data theft, and explicit content, harming both them and our creative industries, meaning the true price of ‘free’ entertainment can be devastating.”
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Warning over ‘jailbroken’ Fire Sticks
Illegal streaming can be delivered by a number of devices by one of the most common are ‘jailbroken’ Fire Sticks, which means a third-party media server software has been installed on to it.
The software most commonly used is called Kodi.
It can grant users unrestricted access to new features and apps the normal version of the device wouldn’t allow – but it is not legal to use in the UK.
But it becomes illegal when a box is used to stream subscription channels for free.
It is also illegal to buy or sell these modified devices which have become known as “fully-loaded” – a term that describes how the software has been altered to allow access to subscription-only channels.
“These devices are legal when used to watch legitimate, free to air, content,” the government said at the time.
“They become illegal once they are adapted to stream illicit content, for example TV programmes, films and subscription sports channels without paying the appropriate subscriptions.”
