Some 1,800 people have been cited for pay-TV subscription fraud in an Italian police probe, judicial sources said Monday.
A man living near Varese north of Milan sold them the pirated subscriptions to platforms including Mediaset Premium, Sky, DAZN and Disney Channel, police said.
Police said he hacked into the platforms to violate their rights.
He allegedly used illegal service providers.
The man is under investigation on suspicion of "counterfeiting, violation of intellectual property and ITC fraud", police said.
The illegal subscribers have been given hefty fines totalling some 300,000 euros and cited for receiving stolen goods.
Police probed bank accounts in order to discover evidence of the illegal subscriptions, police said.
The man is alleged to have made illegal profits from his activity of 500,000 euros between 2017 and 2020, police said.
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