Ringleader of scam to provide Virgin Media's TV service for free has been jailed

jonny1

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article Posted: August 26, 2016.... searched the forum, can't find it posted

The ringleader of a multi-million pound scam to provide Virgin Media's TV service for free has been jailed for six years.
Mahesh Tailor (51) was so successful at running the fraud that when police raided his home, they found a £250,000 in cash.
Tailor, of Hollies Way, Thurnby, ran circuit board manufacturing company Tailor Made Circuits, in Pinfold Road, Thurmaston. He found a way to circumnavigate the encryption of cable television channels supplied by Virgin Media using illicit set top boxes.
Martin Hurst, prosecuting, said Tailor imported thousands of set-top boxes from the China and Korea and sold them for £80 each or more.

He contacted potential customers via internet forums and had his own website for selling the boxes.
Tailor also sold the boxes in bulk to other businesses around the country.


Mr Hurst said Tailor organised people around the country to assist in setting up the network so the service was available nationally.
It was set up to communicate with servers overseas which then allowed owners of the set top boxes in England to receive the channels via the internet without paying a subscription to Virgin Media.
He said: "Tailor and his employees installed licenced software on the set top boxes to activate them.
"He installed, either personally or through agents or co-defendants servers in seven homes around the UK, four in Leicester, one in Coventry, one in Bristol and one in Bolton.
"They were identified over time by Virgin who installed their own receivers to watch pay TV without paying and set about identifying the server addresses.
"The loss to Virgin was in the many millions of pounds.
"The profit to Tailor was so great that on arrest he was in possession at home of £250,000 in uncounted cash; uncounted because he didn't have the time to count it, in cash because that's the way he preferred to deal and at home because the bank had refused to take any more cash from him until he explained where it was coming from.
"The prosecution limits the benefit to Mahesh Tailor at one million pounds, as agreed in writing on the day of his guilty plea."

During the investigation Leicestershire Police recovered a container with 5,000 set-top boxes inside, and it was believed that Tailor had already sold multiple similar consignments.
Virgin Media has previously estimated the scams caused a potential loss of £26 million in revenue, which was disputed by Tailor's counsel.
Tailor and five other men all pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud Richard Branson's company out of revenue from television subscription services, between February 2008 and April 2012.
Judge Robert Brown said: "This was a significant fraud committed over a significant period of time.
"It had the potential to deliver enormous profit to you, Mahesh Tailor, and cause significant loss to Virgin Media.
"You took the leading role in this conspiracy and caused others to be involved."
The men were sentenced at Leicester Crown Court today.
Jagdish Vegad (56), of Arbour Road, off Melton Road, Leicester, was an employee of Tailor. His job included fixing boxes that did not work.
He was jailed for 14 months.
Mark Weighill (36), of Dunbar Road, Coalville, who bought boxes from Tailor and sold them on, was given an eight month jail sentence, suspended for two years, with 150 hours of unpaid work.
Nicholas Beck (46), who had a server installed in his home, in Bloomfield Road, Aylestone, Leicester, was jailed for 13 months.
Jitesh Racicchandra (44), of Knowle Road, Bristol, had two servers installed and was in possession of "extensive hacking material". He was jailed for 18 months.
Andrew Wren (56), of Hinckley Road, Coventry, who also sold on some of the boxes, was given a 10 month jail sentence, suspended for two years, with 150 hours of unpaid work.
Sailesh Mehta, mitigating for Tailor, said the defendant's business was legitimately established and many customers were household names.
He said: "Only a small part of his business was the subject of this conspiracy."
Two other defendants are to be sentenced at a later date.
Tailor has yet to face an inquiry into his assets in a proceeds of crime confiscation hearing.
Det Con Amrat Bhagwan, who investigated the case, was commended by Judge Brown for his excellent work on the complex inquiry since 2011; called Operation Gazette.
After the case, DC Bhagwan said: "Officers were deployed at various locations across the country and the network was taken down, rendering the boxes useless.
"The boxes were imported from the Far East and documentation showed Tailor claimed they were satellite receivers and even paid importation tax on them.
"He did everything in his power to stop himself appearing on the radar.
A Virgin Media spokesperson said: "Fraud costs our customers, our business and the creative industries millions of pounds and we thank the Leicestershire Police for bringing this network of criminals to justice."
 

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6 years is harsh in my eyes!

Family of a young Edmonton mother fatally struck by a "cowardly" hit-and-run driver held up her picture in court Wednesday and watched as the man responsible was led away into custody.

Ken Didechko, 36, was sentenced to 30 months in prison after earlier*being convicted of failing to remain at the scene*of an accident where death ensued and attempted obstruction of justice. The father of four is also banned from driving for four years following his release.

In the Oct. 14, 2012 accident,*18-year-old Faith Jackson was killed after being hit by a 2012 Dodge Charger*as she was walking south on 82 Street near the 141 Avenue intersection.

Court of Queen's Bench Justice Adam Germain rejected a defence pitch for a conditional sentence to be served in the community for what he called Didechko's "cowardly act of fleeing the scene" and his "obvious attempt" to avoid liability by ditching the car, falsely reporting it stolen and "fabricating" a story given to police.

"It was risk management, pure and simple," said Germain. "He continued to play the role of a victim while knowing he was a felon."

Outside court, Jackson's mother, Rebecca Benjamin, said she was "shocked" by the sentence and has no "faith" in the judicial system.

"He only got 2-1/2 years and he killed my daughter," said Benjamin. "I'll never ever see her again and he only got that much time. I have a life sentence that I'm serving now without my daughter."

She began crying as she recalled the last time she saw her.

"She walked out the door and said, 'I love you mom, I'll be right back.' "

Didechko was found guilty of the two offences after trial. However, Germain acquitted him of dangerous driving causing death, saying neither excessive speed nor impairment was proved.

That said, the judge noted that he was "highly suspicious" that Didechko was likely drunk and fled because he knew he was over the legal limit.

Ken Didechko smokes outside of Court of Queen's Bench before his sentencing in the 2012 hit and run death of Faith Jackson on Wednesday, September 28, 2016.

Ken Didechko smokes outside of Court of Queen's Bench before his sentencing in the 2012 hit and run death of Faith Jackson on Wednesday, September 28, 2016.

The judge rejected Didechko's denial to police that he was driving a brand new Dodge Charger SRT V8 — which he had borrowed from the dealership he was working for — at the time of the collision, as well as his claim that someone had stolen the car from his father's home.

Germain accepted expert evidence regarding a GPS tracking device in the car and cellphone towers that showed Didechko was behind the wheel of the muscle car at the time of the collision and at the scene where the vehicle was later found abandoned.

[related_links /]

In a victim impact statement read out in court, Benjamin said the loss of her only daughter has left a "big black hole" in her that cannot be filled. "It feels like a nightmare I can't wake up from."

The victim's father, Merv Jackson, told court that the hardest thing he ever had to do was make a cross for his daughter's funeral.

"No parent should ever have to do that," he said.


So this is the British justice system, punish the guys who made a load of money selling dodgy boxes and what of the person that takes a life???
 
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I wouldn't say 6 years is harsh, I would say those who kill whilst behind the wheel of a car get too little.

Everyone knows CardSharing is illegal wether your running a server or a client and should be aware if caught there will be fines etc.


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My point was that because of the monetary value involved the card sharing guy got 6 years which in my eyes is harsh - no one got killed.
On the other hand the guy who was "allegedly" a drink driver who killed a girl and only received 30 months in jail - this is a joke. How can the justice system be so unfair ?

If the value had been £20,000 would he of got 6 years?
 
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Who knows. It's a big topic at the moment though isn't it. This and IPTV so probably trying to send a message as well


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Their is no way he cost VM anywhere near £26m most people use these boxes is they can't afford to pay £90 a month to watch TV for an average of 4/5 hours a day

Mabie if they lowerd their prices they wouldn't have as many people using cardsharing
 
I've said it for years, phone line, unlimited calls, internet, full tv package £30 a month 80% of the public would be on your books. They could afford to do it as well that's the thing their just greedy
 
I've said it for years, phone line, unlimited calls, internet, full tv package £30 a month 80% of the public would be on your books. They could afford to do it as well that's the thing their just greedy

sounds great but where where sky get the billions to pay for tv rights.

Best think they can do ( and think they are all going to do) is cut out that you have to get phone line installed nobody uses it any more.
 
27 million households in the UK (not including ROI)
If half of them had the full sky package at £30 a year and let's be honest, more than half would subscribe at that price
That's a turn over of just under £500m a month almost £5b a year

Theirs a lot of different numbers being fling around online and I don't have the time to go looking at company's house for exact figures but it can't be far off the numbers mentioned above. Even if it's bellow it will be the premier league taking the hit not sky. And their would be nothing they could do about it
 
I've said it for years, phone line, unlimited calls, internet, full tv package £30 a month 80% of the public would be on your books. They could afford to do it as well that's the thing their just greedy

sounds great but where where sky get the billions to pay for tv rights.

Best think they can do ( and think they are all going to do) is cut out that you have to get phone line installed nobody uses it any more.

No one uses landlines any more?
 
Mr Tailor is a modern day robin hood and I am greatfull to all the folk out there who are willing to risk there freedom to allow common folk to receive a service that is affordable. sky and cable is well over priced and even at half the cost would not be worth it. The money made by mister taylor was well deserved and I hope he has a little nest egg put away for when he gets out.
 
I've managed to get my parents a Sky deal for £46pm. That's The full Sky Q TV package inc HD, broadband and line rental which I don't think is to bad. Shame it's not a standard price


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Victim was not a multi millionaire maybe?

How true that is kill someone and get a light sentence but step on the toes of big money makers and you will get a harsh punishment sad but true people who run multi million pound businesses can afford to buy the people who mater.
 
How true that is kill someone and get a light sentence but step on the toes of big money makers and you will get a harsh punishment sad but true people who run multi million pound businesses can afford to buy the people who mater.

Yea local young mother in my area was murdered by her partner and all he got was 17 years to life, it makes me sick the British justice system is a mess
 
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