An elderly couple from Bavaria is standing trial in Landshut, accused of orchestrating a large-scale piracy scheme that allegedly defrauded pay-TV operator Sky Deutschland of more than €4.4 million.
According to a report by German newspaper BILD, Sergej M. (68), an electromechanic, and his wife Valentina (70), a shop assistant, are charged with serious joint computer fraud in 4,611 cases. Between 2014 and 2019, the pair are said to have sold hundreds of manipulated satellite receivers from their small electronics shop, allowing customers to access Sky’s full pay-TV offering without a valid subscription.
The set-top boxes – referred to in court as “Russian receivers” – were modified Octagon boxes. Prosecutors allege the couple sold 1,755 of these hacked devices for around €250 each, earning more than €500,000 in revenue. In addition, they reportedly charged customers €50 for regular software updates, with the manipulated devices enabling savings of around €79.99 per month in subscription fees.
In total, prosecutors estimate that Sky suffered damages of approximately €4.426 million as a result of the illegal sales and software manipulations.
A Sky spokesperson told BILD: “Sky takes piracy very seriously. We systematically analyse illegal offers and regularly initiate criminal proceedings against illegal providers. We also file criminal charges ourselves against users.”
The company declined to quantify its annual losses from piracy but noted that “the number of investigations has increased significantly in recent years.”
According to Süddeutsche Zeitung, the receivers not only allowed unauthorised access to Sky’s full line-up of films, series and sports, but also opened up additional subscription services such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Magenta Sport and foreign channels. Customers reportedly paid up to €40 more for this extended access. The newspaper reports that the receives were accessing a so-called card sharing server in the Netherlands, which decrypted Sky’s codes and transmitted them to the devices.
At the opening of the trial before the Landshut regional court, the defendants chose not to comment on the charges. However, so-called exploratory talks took place, raising the possibility of a reduced sentence should the couple decide to confess. The court has scheduled 26 further hearing days, with investigators, customers and Sky employees called to testify.
