Virgin Media TV con 'run from a back bedroom' in Derby

[j4v3d]

The quartet sold about 44,000 set-top boxes which enabled their owners to access Virgin’s cable channels for free.

The boxes were fitted with software that sent electronic messages from a computer hub set up in one of their homes.

The scam cost Virgin Media £1,000 per box sold, according to a spokesman, as it gave users unlimited access to the full range of channels and denied the company sizeable subscription fees.

Over the 12 months or so, the potential loss from more than 40,000 boxes could have reached £40million in subscription fees, he said.

Anthony Ginnivan, 48, and Paul Hartrick, 51, pleaded guilty at Derby crown court to conspiring to defraud between February 2010 and February this year. Melvyn Howard, 62, and Amber Ahmed, 34, pleaded guilty earlier.

‘Hartrick was involved with the distribution of the boxes and Ahmed had acquired an original, legitimate Virgin Media subscription signal, which was then sent to Korea to be descrambled before beaming back to the house in Littleover, where we arrested Ginnivan and Howard,’ said Det Con Adam Govan of Derbyshire Police.

All four are due to be sentenced next month, while a fifth man is still to stand trial over his alleged involvement.

Read more:

http://www.metro.co.uk/news/884320-virgin-tv-con-worth-40m-run-from-a-back-bedroom-in-derby#ixzz1g5CcQm90

[lincsat]

These quoted loss figures never cease to amaze me - losses of £1000 per box (What even the ones sold a week before). How long was the server running, about 9 Months? That's some subscription to cost £1000 for 9 Months.

I still think that 44,000 is well over the top for boxes sold

[jimbo]

I think that's all sv makes sv1-7 perhaps?

[lincsat]

That would seem a better estimate, but the earlier ones weren't run from a "Back Bedroom". Makes you wonder if VM have insurance for this sort of thing and they are over-claiming.

[TheCoder]

Thats the kind of story you get when reporters neither know or care about the subject they are reporting on. They just want a sensational headline, the truth matters very little. In fact, I doubt the reporter was even in court, he's probably just taken a pre-prepared VM/Police press statement and printed it nearly verbatim without bothering to actually analyse its contents.

The most important point is that VM actually lose very little as they are simply the distributers of the programs, not the originators. Its the channels themselves that lose income. At most, vm lose their cut of the distribution income from the subscriptions. VM obviously dont pay the channels anything for people who prefer to 'subscribe' using alternative methods.

hmm, I wonder if the various channels actually have a case against VM for negligently losing them up £40 Million worth of income. After all, surely VM have just admitted as much !

[j4v3d]

its probably a story that has gone OTT to make it more dramatic

[mikie8]

im surprised the tabloids never linked gift boxes with organised crime or al qaeda . they over sensationalise everything else .

[Robbo]

VM would be losing potential income from subscriptions that are not being taken up due to pirates getting the channels for nearly free.

[TheCoder]

Originally Posted by Robbo

VM would be losing potential income from subscriptions that are not being taken up due to pirates getting the channels for nearly free.

As I mentioned above, thats not nearly as much as you would think !

Ultimately, its the channel producers that lose big money rather than VM. Effectively all VM lose is the carriage fee they get for each subsriber. Still a substantial fee but probably only 25% of the subscription charges. The biggest loser (from VM's perspective) is possibly Sky as they aren't getting the per-subscriber revenue for the Sports/Movie channels.

[reddiesel]

Be interesting to see the outcome, 44,000 boxes ?, cost VM £1,000 per box ? take a while to pay that back at a pound a week!
Anyone know how they were caught ?