A fire stick dealer who made £14,000 by selling pirated versions of the gadgets that illegally gave customers access to all TV channels has avoided prison.
Alec Dodson, from Beswick, east Manchester, sold more than 200 sticks, boxes and packages giving people access to numerous subscription TV services for a cut price of just £120 per year.
The 57-year-old was caught out after he sold one of the IPTV boxes to an investigator from the Film and Content Protection Agency, who work to tackle piracy on behalf of copyright holders.
The investigator arranged to buy one from a man in Scotland, Manchester Crown Court was told, but in September 2020, he received a WhatsApp message from Dodson who said the man he’d originally spoken to had left their group but he was still able to provide one.
He was invited to a chat on the messaging app Telegram where Dodson told him the cost of £120 per year, David Barrett, prosecuting, said.
Alec Dodson, 57, from Beswick, east Manchester, sold more than 200 sticks, boxes and packages giving people access to numerous subscription TV services for a cut price
Dodson admitted the charges against him and was handed a suspended prison sentence
Dodson was also advertising in the group for re-sellers to sell the boxes on his behalf.
The investigator paid £120 into Dodson’s PayPal account and received an ‘Android Box’ with IPTV, the court was told.
It included access to all the UK’s major sports subscription channels as well as films and TV shows owned by Disney, 20th Century Fox, and Warner Brothers among others.
Dodson was arrested in March 2021. His phone was seized and WhatsApp messages and his PayPal account were analysed.
Officers discovered 222 separate transactions between September 2020 and March 2021 for a mixture of boxes and subscriptions.
In total, Dodson made £13,915.58 from his illegal operations.
‘The prosecution’s case is that the defendant was an aggregator,’ Mr Barrett said.
‘He was the owner of the group, he was not just selling subscriptions and boxes but was also advertising for re-sellers.’
Such devices are legal when used to watch legitimate, free to air content or for paid subscription channels; however, they become illegal once adapted to stream illicit content
Dodson pleaded guilty to one count of supplying articles for fraud at an earlier hearing. He has 29 convictions for 57 offences, though his last was more than 30 years ago, the court heard.
IPTV stands for internet protocol television and refers to the delivery of TV services over the internet. Such devices are legal when used to watch legitimate, free to air content or for paid subscription channels; however, they become illegal once adapted to stream illicit content.
Robert Kearney, defending, said companies like Disney, who had assets of over $200bn last year, were ‘entitled to protect their copyright.’
However, he said: ‘It does not necessarily follow that the people who bought these sticks would have, or been able to afford to, buy these services from these companies if they were sold legitimately.’
He described it as ‘low-level fraud’, and added that: ‘He’s made seven and a half thousand pounds a year over two years.’
Dodson was described as a hard-working man still in employment and a ‘perfect candidate’ for a suspended sentence.
The judge, Recorder Andrew Long, sentenced him to 12 months in prison, suspended for 18 months. ‘You have a very long record, but it’s clear you had been able to turn your life around and live your life productively. These offences represent a serious backward step in that regard.
‘It was a business set up by yourself and you earned £14,000 as a result. However by selling the boxes for use in ongoing fraud, the level of harm is likely to be higher. I am satisfied you played a significant role and the harm is serious.’
Dodson covered his face and flicked the Vs as he left the court building.