A fake pay TV smart card scam which has been operating in Australia is unlikely to be repeated here. Photo / Brett Phibbs
Two Sydney men have been charged with selling fake pay TV cards that give viewers access without subscribing, but Kiwi Sky bosses say that a repeat of the fake card rip-off is unlikely to happen here.
The Australian Federal Police (AFP) raided properties in three states in April
in a crackdown on pay TV scammers. At that time, they said up to 50,000 bogus cards could be circulating across Australia.
Sky NZ communications director Tony O'Brien says the relatively small size of the New Zealand market for such a rort makes it far less worthwhile for criminals.
"When someone wants to defeat the system, they'll go to the market with the biggest return," he said, "and that means the US, UK and Australia. We're the smallest pay TV market in the world - it wouldn't be worth their while."
O'Brien says Sky has systems to alert the company of illegal access and there is a plan in place if such a breach occurs.
"If it were to happen here we'd send out a new series of smart cards, then obviously prosecute the offenders. There are definitely safeguards in place."
The AFP executed 10 search warrants in Australia, seizing hundreds of fake Foxtel and Austar cards and set-top decoders in Victoria, NSW and Queensland after a six-month investigation.
Two Victorian men were charged after the raids, and officers seized cash in excess of A$173,000, ($222,600) computer equipment and fake smart cards from a Sydney property.
The latest arrests follow an analysis of data on the computers.
A 42-year-old man from North Ryde and a 43-year-old Ashfield man will face court today in Sydney's Downing Centre.
The Ashfield man has been charged with making and distributing unauthorised decoders and possessing property suspected to be the proceeds of crime.
The younger man was charged with distributing unauthorised decoders and possessing property suspected to be the proceeds of crime.
The maximum penalty for the copyright offences is five years in jail, while the maximum is two years' jail for the proceeds of crime offence.
- AAP / NZ HERALD STAFF
