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back to article Premier League Sky card crims ordered to cough up nearly £1m

Two fraudsters who supplied fake Premier League football broadcast viewing cards to pubs and betting shops have been ordered by a court to stump up nearly £1m. Simon Hopkins, 48, and Leon Passlow, 59, were jailed for 42 months last August after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud. The two ran a firm called Digicam …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I assume they will have bought depreciating assets ( eg: cars ) and paid living expenses with that money.

    I'm curious how they're supposed to pay back every penny they scammed out of people, especially if they're living at Her Majesty's pleasure.

    3 0 Reply
    1. Prst. V.Jeltz Silver badge
      Reply Icon
      FAIL

      "Their scam involved obtaining Sky and other viewing cards using false names"

      pfft , thought they were doing something clever and techy at first

      4 0 Reply
    2. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      That's tough on them. The courts will always order repayment of the full value of any ill-gotten gains, if the value of the goods they brought with the dodgy cash has fallen then that is there problem, not the courts.

      6 1 Reply
      1. Anonymous Coward
        Reply Icon
        Anonymous Coward

        Debtors prisons have not yet come back. I would assume they would have to account for where the money was spent and where any assets or bank accounts are. If it all adds up then they clearly cannot return money they do not have.

        1 0 Reply
        1. Anonymous Coward
          Reply Icon
          Anonymous Coward

          They can, however, be made bankrupt. Or the judge could just send them down for additional time. Or force them to sell other assets they own (e.g. houses) to make up the shortfall.

          1 0 Reply
    3. Your alien overlord - fear me
      Reply Icon

      The courts have already grabbed the near million. The crims just need to agree to give it back.

      0 0 Reply
  2. dave 93
    WTF?

    EU Single Digital Market would have stopped the FA & SKY gouging customers across Europe

    'They enjoyed lavish lifestyles with the proceeds ... driving expensive cars and buying thousands of pounds’ worth of jewellery.'

    Only FA officials and footballers are allowed to behave like this.

    23 0 Reply
    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: EU Single Digital Market would have stopped the FA & SKY gouging customers across Europe

      That's very unfair... Sky executives are allowed too.

      1 0 Reply
  3. HollyHopDrive

    If only Mr Murdoch and his bunch of low life staff were treated equally harshly, with say profits from media advertising associated from the crime of illegally listening to voicemail and making hype from the information and these "profits" a could be awarded back to victims.

    Oh no, that's right, there are criminals and criminals with links to the right people. Silly me.

    18 1 Reply
    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      On a totally unconnected matter is Rebecca Brooks still friends with Dave now he is no longer PM and of no use ?

      3 2 Reply
  4. lukewarmdog

    very confused

    The article says they provided fake cards but the cards worked, the pubs etc were happy with the service so they were genuine cards?

    I'm also confused because why is this a card based system anyway? Why don't these businesses have a box and an account and information is provided to that box based on their account choices and payments? And just how much are these cards worth if they've amassed this reported fortune?

    All seems really backwards, a low tech scam that deliver high tech entertainment.

    3 2 Reply
    1. BebopWeBop
      Reply Icon

      Re: very confused

      Well I can assume they bought consumer cards. Commercial enterprises pay significantly more for their viewing. Ship on these cards and split the difference and both the pub and the seller are happy bunnies. And they are cards because the infrastructure is a little elderly.

      4 0 Reply
    2. Fuzz
      Reply Icon

      Re: very confused

      I think all DVB encryption systems are card based. The original idea being that you bought a DVB receiver with a CAM slot. Then you bought a CAM for the particular encryption system your provider was using which would accept the card from your provider. The system Sky uses ties the card to the box so each card can only be used in that box and the encryption is customised so only a Sky box can be used rather than any DVB-S receiver with a CAM. Not sure why the card is used rather than embedding the technology for the card into the box itself.

      4 0 Reply
      1. Drefsab_UK
        Reply Icon

        Re: very confused

        This is because if sky want to change something with the CAM they just issue new cards and not the whole new box. Plus with sky you own the box out right theres a large trade going on in 2nd hand box's that you sell to someone they put their viewing card in call sky pair them up and boom new box.

        Its hardly fool proof, hell card sharing for sky has existed for ages they dont even make it hard to get the box id use to setup a CCCamd server. Oh and sky q is no different same style system.

        2 0 Reply
      2. Blotto Silver badge
        Reply Icon

        Re: very confused

        @Fuzz

        they use a card as its easy for customers to replace when Sky periodically upgrade the encryption.

        http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-17494723

        0 0 Reply
    3. Peter 26
      Reply Icon

      Re: very confused

      Yes I am confused too.

      I only know of two types of card, consumer and pub. The pub ones showing the beer glass logo at the bottom of the screen. If they were buying consumer cards and selling to businesses then it would be obvious that something is up. Perhaps there is different levels of business\pub sky card price based on the size of the pub. They purchased cheaper somehow then sold them on? Or maybe did multi screen as many pubs have lots of screens?

      Fill in the detail for us Gareth!

      0 0 Reply
      1. Wilseus
        Reply Icon

        Re: very confused

        "Perhaps there is different levels of business\pub sky card price based on the size of the pub."

        Yes I think that is how it works. A local private members' club near to me has about 200 members and the chairman told me Sky wanted over £1000 per year for a place that size.

        0 0 Reply
    4. Andy 97
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      Re: very confused

      Ever watched the football on Sky and seen the serial number on the top right side of the screen?

      0 0 Reply
  5. FuzzyWuzzys

    IP crime? Surely it's just a "service crime", like tapping off next door's gas supply?

    2 0 Reply
    1. frank ly
      Reply Icon

      Yes, and they were found guilty of a fraud offence.

      1 0 Reply
    2. TheVogon
      Reply Icon

      "IP crime? Surely it's just a "service crime", like tapping off next door's gas supply?"

      Taking something physical like next door's gas without paying for it is theft. Accessing something intangible like PPV content without paying for is not theft. If not clear, see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IeTybKL1pM4

      0 0 Reply
  6. Your alien overlord - fear me

    Good to see we're going back to deporting criminals to Australia. The good old days !!!!!!

    4 0 Reply
    1. Martin Summers Silver badge
      Reply Icon

      Personally I wouldn't mind being deported there myself and I'm not a criminal!

      1 0 Reply
  7. DrXym

    A much more effective scam

    Would be to sell a passthru HDMI device that superimposes the pint glass on the screen. Sell the device to the pub for £500 and let them figure out how to get the Sky sub. For extra law-skirting shadiness, make the device show a smiley face by default but provide an easy way to change the graphic to a pint, e.g. an SD card slot.

    0 0 Reply
    1. Blotto Silver badge
      Reply Icon

      Re: A much more effective scam

      DrXym

      like a clear film sticker in the shape of a pint one can put on the screen, wouldn't pay £500 for that. probably get them on ebay for a couple of quid.

      1 0 Reply
      1. Anonymous Coward
        Reply Icon
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: A much more effective scam

        Tippex is cheaper still...

        0 0 Reply
  8. Alfred

    Missed headline opportunity?

    "Crime doesn't pay - FACT" perhaps? Or "In FACT, crime doesn't pay" maybe.

    Definitely some kind of missed opportunity here :(

    0 0 Reply
  9. goldcd

    I am also confused

    but mainly around how they managed to criminally profit more, than Sky lost..

    Surely it's supposed to go the other way - e.g. Sky lost a million and they made a criminal profit of 1/2 a million.

    3 0 Reply
  10. Alistair 1

    The pub icon both changes corner + how much is filled, so a sticker wouldn't work, when a (sky) inspector went to check.

    0 0 Reply
  11. MJI Silver badge

    Who are the victims?

    Are there any?

    Again "crimes" like this are punished more harshly than kicking someone in the head.

    3 0 Reply
  12. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Also are the pubs guilty too? Did they knowingly pay for these dodgy cards? No mention of them getting into trouble

    0 0 Reply

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