Illegal streaming websites make it easy for hackers to crack open your phone (Picture: Getty/Metro)
Hackers are stealing thousands from people who use illegal streaming sites to watch movies or TV shows,researchers have told Metro.
Almost one in five (18%) people reported a malware infection – software that allows people to hijack their devices – 12 months after illegally streaming.
With malware installed on the victim’s phones and computers,attackers were able to crack open their bank accounts and steal their money.
Two in five (41%) of illegal streamers lost,on average,£1,680,a survey of 2,000 people by BeStreamWise,an initiative established to counter illegal streaming,found.
Seven in 10 (68%) illegal streamers also do so on a work phone,while almost six in 10 (58%) have streamed illegally on a work laptop,posing further possible safety risks.
Among them is David*,who lost nearly £2,000 after entering his PayPal details to upgrade an unofficial service offering access to live sport.
Hackers can jimmy open work devices if used to illegally stream,experts say (Picture: Getty Images)
‘I used to watch football when in the pub with my dad and uncles when I was younger,a real family thing,’ David,in his 30s,says.
‘Football [is] a thing that connects us.
‘But with the prices we have to pay now,you can’t afford to watch the sport you love,something that’s connected you with your family and mates.’
Faced with a bill of up to £60 a month to watch matches legitimately,paying a one-off £89 fee for an illegal website was a ‘no-brainer’ for David.
‘When you punch your details into any website,and it’s only because a couple of mates are recommending it,you hear the alarm bells,’ David says.
‘I was a little bit wary,and then like this extra pop-up came up asking me to put in my PayPal details. I’d already put some details before that,so I thought it hadn’t gone through.’
David is warning people against streaming footie,like the World Cup,illegally (Picture: Julian Finney/FIFA/FIFA/Getty Images)
David didn’t question the payment,as £90 ‘wasn’t a crazy amount’.
Yet when a streamer exchanges credit or debit card information to view content on pirate-run websites,or taps on a noisy pop-up,this opens a window for crooks to strike.
‘I noticed money had been intermittently coming out of my account – £100 here,£150 there,’ David recalls.
‘But trying to speak with PayPal and my bank while also navigating that I hadn’t done anything bad was a headache.’
After getting off the phone with PayPal,David told the same friends who recommended the dodgy site what happened.
It hadn’t happened to them,he says,but now he’s warned everyone in the footie group chats he’s part of to steer clear of illegitimate streaming.
‘I just felt like an idiot,’ he adds.
‘Dodgy sticks’ can also result in malware scams (Picture: Getty Images Europe)
Illegal streaming sites attracted 247,000,000 visits worldwide in 2024,up from 216,000 the year before,according to piracy tracker Muso.
Gone are the days when people would flog fake DVDs on street corners or share a video taken with a bad camcorder in the cinema.
Instead,pirated video is a sprawling,international industry that can nab content from legitimate streaming sites within seconds.
Studio insiders even hand videos over to cyber pirates,who upload the ripped copies to piracy sites or share them in full on social media.
Hackers have pried open post-production vaults to steal shows before they are released,as happened to Orange Is the New Black in 2017.
Others tinker with streaming devices,like an Amazon Fire TV Stick,so they access shoddy services.
Illegal streaming websites often have catalogues far larger than legitimate ones (Picture: Getty Images)
David says he’s seen football fans flogging the tinkered devices,called ‘dodgy sticks’,on Facebook community groups.
These services – their names crammed with nonsensical numbers and the word ‘free’ – often offer a stolen lineup larger than the catalogues of Netflix and Amazon Prime Video combined.
But all this content is stored on overseas servers,so copyright holders have few legal ways to get it removed.
Marijus Briedis,the chief technology officer at the online privacy company NordVPN,says that these unregulated sites are a hacker’s dream.
‘Cybercriminals know people are willing to click through pop-ups,download unknown apps or enter payment details if they believe they are getting access to sport,films or TV for free,’ she tells Metro.
‘Once malware is on a phone or laptop,it can put everything else on that device at risk.’
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Modded streaming devices are just as worrying,Briedis stresses,as they can hoover up viewers’ data,redirect them to spam pages,or grab hold of their home network.
‘The temptation with illegal streaming is often framed as saving money,’ Briedis adds,‘but the potential cost can be far higher.’
A BeStreamWise spokesperson said: It’s clear that watching content through unofficial sources can leave people vulnerable to cyber-attacks.
‘That’s why we encourage the use of legitimate services,keeping devices updated,and regularly checking for signs of malicious software,so everyone can enjoy the content they love safely.’
*Name has been changed by Metro to protect his anonymity.
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