• Football
  • Boxing
  • UFC
  • Home
  • Football
    • England
    • Transfer News
    • Premier League
    • Champions League
    • Lionel Messi
    • Cristiano Ronaldo
    • EA FC 25
    • Wrexham
  • Boxing
    • Tyson Fury
    • Anthony Joshua
    • Oleksandr Usyk
    • Mike Tyson
    • Jake Paul
    • Logan Paul
  • UFC
    • Dana White
    • Conor McGregor
    • Khabib Nurmagomedov
    • Jon Jones
    • Paddy Pimblett
    • Joe Rogan
  • Other Sport
    • Athletics
    • Formula 1
    • MMA
    • Motorsport
    • NBA
    • Darts
    • NFL
    • Snooker
    • Wrestling
    • Tennis
    • Cricket
    • Golf
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • LADbible
  • UNILAD
  • GAMINGbible
  • Tyla
  • UNILAD Tech
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
Threads
Snapchat
TikTok
YouTube
Man who made over £1 million from Fire Sticks and illegal streaming was sent to jail

Home> Football> Football News

Published 12:43 25 May 2024 GMT+1

Man who made over £1 million from Fire Sticks and illegal streaming was sent to jail

A man sold a service where customers could watch a range of sports and entertainment content.

Nasir Jabbar

Nasir Jabbar

A man was jailed after bagging more than £1,000,000 off the back of an illegal Premier League football streaming ploy.

Steven Mills, 58, sold Fire Sticks to people that allowed them to watch games in the Premier League in a big criminal operation.

He ran his business for five years through a Facebook group and claimed he had more than 30,000 subscribers.

Advert

1,000 customers were identified following an investigation by the Premier League, West Mercia Police and FACT, an anti-piracy organisation.

Last year, Mills pleaded guilty to multiple fraud offences at Shrewsbury Crown Court and was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison on October 6.

The man from Shrewsbury was also convicted of a separate offence for watching the illegal content he was supplying to others.

Advert

His service was primarily aimed at UK-based customers and traded under the names Pikabox and Eyepeeteevee, which offered a range of sports and entertainment content.

According to the Premier League, the operation was 'sophisticated' and said that Mills took 'significant steps' to disguise his activity from detection.

A judge highlighted the use of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) and recorded tutorial videos, which supported his customers to access the illegal content.

Police and FACT officials visited some of the customers who purchased the service and served notices to cease illegal streaming activities with immediate effect.

Advert

A man pocketed more than £1 million from his illicit business. Image: Getty
A man pocketed more than £1 million from his illicit business. Image: Getty

The Premier League general counsel Kevin Plumb said: "The sentence handed down by the crown court today once again clearly demonstrates the severity of piracy-related offences and the consequences that come with them.

"It is vital that the public continue to be made aware of the dangers and criminality associated with using illegal streaming services.

"We are aware that so-called 'Fire Sticks' are being sold as a means of illegally accessing all kinds of content, and today’s judgment should remove any doubt that it is illegal and treated very seriously by the courts."

Advert

Kieron Sharp, CEO of FACT, added: "FACT are committed to safeguarding the broadcast rights of our partners and we hope that the severity of the sentence sends out a clear message that piracy is a crime that is taken very seriously by the courts."

Matt McNelis, detective inspector from West Mercia Police, said: "This was a great example of partners from law enforcement and industry coming together to have a profound effect on this type of criminality.

"It’s clear that no single agency alone can be as effective as closely coordinated teams working towards achieving an objective.

"The investigation, run by the force cyber crime unit, utilised sensitive tactics to increase the preventative messaging during the arrest phase before following up again with FACT to disrupt and educate others linked to Mills earlier this year."

Featured Image Credit: Getty

Topics: Football, Premier League

Nasir Jabbar
Nasir Jabbar

Nasir Jabbar is a journalist at SPORTbible. He graduated from Bath Spa University with a BA in Media Communications. He's a combat sport aficionado and has contributed to MMA websites AddictedMMA and CagePotato. Nasir has covered some of the biggest fights, while interviewing the likes of Conor McGregor, Anthony Joshua, Tyson Fury and Darren Till. He's also an avid Bristol City fan.

X

@NasJabbar

Advert

Advert

Advert

Choose your content:

6 hours ago
7 hours ago
10 hours ago
  • 6 hours ago

    Erik ten Hag to get rid of Bayer Leverkusen player for the second time after selling him to the club while in charge of Man Utd

    Former Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag looks poised to get rid of the same player for two different clubs.

    Football
  • 7 hours ago

    Fans lose their minds and say 'announce Yamal' after Barcelona superstar spotted in Premier League club's shirt

    Lamine Yamal sent fans wild this week after being seen in an iconic English football shirt.

    Football
  • 7 hours ago

    Sir Alex Ferguson ripped into former Man Utd star for what he allowed Cristiano Ronaldo to do

    Sir Alex Ferguson lectured the former Manchester United player following the incident with Cristiano Ronaldo.

    Football
  • 10 hours ago

    Football legend reveals he was on the verge of signing for Man Utd after idolising Old Trafford star for years

    The player represented the likes of Barcelona, Inter and AC Milan during his career but never got the chance to play for Manchester United.

    Football
  • Fans streaming Premier League football illegally sent £50,000 warning
  • Five men who made millions on illegal streaming 'sticks' jailed for up to 11 years each