Scammer who cost Sky £5m by selling TV access codes is ordered to repay £130k
‘Card-sharing service’
A LANDSCAPE gardener who ran an illegal code-sharing scheme that cost TV giant Sky £4.8million has been ordered to hand over almost £130,000.
Gavin Gray, 27, used the internet to sell his personal-use decryption codes for premium channels such as Sky Sports and movie channels.
Gray, of Bellshill, Lanarkshire, built up a list of 1,800 clients who paid £5 a month for the service over a four-year period.
Prosecutors, who estimated the annual cost to Sky could top £1.2million, launched a proceeds of crime action and he has now been told to repay £128,670.
Kevin McCarron, defending, said: ‘An agreement has been reached between parties which will bring this matter to a conclusion.’
Prosecutors had detailed earlier how Gray set up his scam.
Depute fiscal Callum Forsyth said: ‘The accused was supplying the encrypted control word through his server to the client’s box.
‘Clients using the service must have the user name, password, internet address and port number for a card-sharing server entered into their client cable set-top box. This was provided to them by the accused.’
Mr Forsyth added: ‘No authorisation had been given to the accused to provide access to the broadcasting to others. At that time the full Sky package cost £57 per month.
‘The potential monthly loss to Sky as a result of this operation was £102,600, which amounts to £1,231,200 per year based on 1,800 clients as claimed by the accused during the search.’
Hamilton Sheriff Court heard the entire operation was carried out online as Gray used a number of different forums and websites to attract customers eager to save money. He also set up a card-sharing scheme among his clients which provided the decryption codes.
Gray’s scam was ended when copyright investigators lured him into sending passwords and codes to them online and police were called.
A raid at his home in July 2014 discovered a safe containing £44,260 in cash and quantities of digital boxes and pass cards.
Gray later admitted setting up the illegal scheme which saw him earn £120,434.77 between January 2010 and July 2014.
He also admitted running a card-sharing service to provide a means of decoding the encrypted programming, and possessing a device to enable circumvention of encrypted satellite broadcasts.
He confessed to advertising an unauthorised decoder for sale between May and July 2014.
Gray was spared jail last year and told to carry out 300 hours of unpaid work as well as being tagged for a year.
A spokesman for Sky said: ‘This case demonstrates how seriously the courts take piracy and we hope it will highlight the consequences of engaging in such activity.’
Procurator fiscal for specialist casework Liam Murphy said: ‘Gray operated a large-scale card-sharing scheme.
‘Today’s result should serve as a warning to all criminals. We will not stop at prosecution. We will use the laws available to us to ensure money obtained through crime is confiscated from those who do not deserve it and reinvested into the community.’