A dad made a small fortune selling dodgy fire sticks online to fund his gambling addiction.
Kevin O’Donnell, of Altcross Road, Croxteth, sold modified fire sticks between September 2020 and March 2023 for illegally streaming subscription-based content. He was caught after FACT, the Federation Against Copyright Theft, received information about the sale of devices providing unauthorized access to premium sport, TV shows and films from Sky and BT.
On May 3, 2022, the organization began investigating a Facebook profile for “Kev O’James”, which advertised the sale of subscription packages up to £85 on Amazon Fire Sticks or remotely on smart devices. The page said: “Don’t go with amateurs who have been selling for a few months. Come with us, we have been selling for many years”.
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The Facebook account was linked to O’Donnell’s personal account and both accounts appeared to be operated by the same person.
FACT agents then made a test purchase from the O’James account, paying £40 to a PayPal address for a 12-month subscription package. A purchasing investigation confirmed that the illegal streaming service gave customers access to Sky and BT content.
In the six months between February and August 2022, FACT found that 574 transactions had been made to the PayPal account, amounting to £136,000. Further inspection in July 2023 revealed that both Facebook accounts were still active and still promoting the sale of the dodgy fire sticks.
O’Donnell, 41, was arrested on July 4 and admitted “solely responsible for the crimes.” He appeared at Liverpool Crown Court today, June 4, where he pleaded guilty to supplying articles for the use of fraud and providing a service intended to circumvent technological measures.
Prosecutor Kevin Liston said: “Quantifying the loss is difficult and is based on the average. Sky estimates that, based on your average subscription costs during the period the breaches occurred, the loss could be as much as £371,000. BT estimates, using a similar approach, that losses could have been as much as £471,000. Significant losses may have been caused by the company.”
Kyra Badman, defending, said: “From the outset the suspect accepted his involvement. His involvement is not as sophisticated as it seems. He bought fire sticks for £40 and made a little profit on top of that, and so the business started.
“It is clearly accepted that he was motivated by financial gain, not by a lavish lifestyle, but driven by his addiction at the time: alcohol, but especially a significant gambling addiction. These addictions were caused by an emotional response to what was happening in his life at that time.
“His father passed away in September 2022 after suffering from cancer for two years. The defendant had a very close relationship with his father. He worked with him every day for twenty years, and the loss of his father had a significant impact on him. That meant he was more dependent on measures he thought were helping him, on alcohol and on escaping gambling.”
She added that O’Donnell was the main breadwinner for his disabled five-year-old son.
The judge, Mrs Recorder Michelle Brown, said: “This was an offense that took place over an extended period, three years. Your offense involved large sums of money, not only in terms of your potential profits, but also in terms of the potential damage caused to the companies involved.”
She accepted that O’Donnell had failed to understand the seriousness of his crimes, his personal mitigation and a probation report, which placed him at low risk of reoffending in the future. She sentenced him to a total of two years in prison, of which two years were suspended.
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