Sky Deutschland said that police forces in Sulzbach (Saarland) and in Pfungstadt (Hesse) have taken a card sharing ring out of business.
The group was selling illegal access using card sharing to Sky’s premium channels, especially the live Sky Sports channels.
In the action, which took place in October, but is only now reported, police raided at the same time three premises and confiscated extensive evidence such as digital receivers , personal computers, databases, and payment information. According to initial findings, several thousand customers were serviced.
Sky’s own anti piracy experts were able to support the police at a technical level, and help identifying the main suspects. The face criminal charges for unauthorised use of its commercial broadcast signal (§ 108a of the German Copyright Act).
In a related development, the district court of Stolzenau in Lower Saxony sentenced a 51 -year-old man to a one-and-a-half-year prison term, of which six months are conditional. The man was found guilty of running a card-sharing ring, which was discovered in 2012. The decision can still be appealed.
Dr. Andreas Rudloff , VP Platform Services & Security at Sky, said in a statement: “The verdict is a further decisive step in the fight against information and communication technology crimes, also known as cybercrime. Once again, a clear sign has been given that the perpetrators of these illegal activities will be brought to justice. Close cooperation between the companies affected – Sky Deutschland and Nagra in this case – during the preliminary investigations in the black market and the persistent investigative work by the law enforcement authorities have shown that decisive, focussed action leads to success.”
Sky Deutschland is active, in intensive cooperation with Nagravision, to investigate these card-sharing rings, and other illegal activities, and handing over the information to the authorities.
