Thai police cracks down on billion-baht movie piracy network
Law enforcement conducted raids at four locations across Thailand, cracking down on an extensive online piracy network responsible for an illicit movie streaming platform that has been in operation for nearly two decades.
The raids, which took place yesterday, targeted two sites in Bangkok, one in Surin, and one in Surat Thani, aiming to dismantle the piracy network that has allegedly caused damages exceeding 1 billion baht.
The Intellectual Property and International Trade Court issued the search warrants that led to the concerted operation spearheaded by the Economic Crime Suppression Division (ECD). The crackdown was the result of complaints from several private companies in the film industry against the website siambit.com, known for distributing pirated movies. The operation’s success followed an intensive investigation into the website’s operations, which revealed a well-organised system of piracy.
The website initially offered movies for free but later began charging membership fees to the general public. In an attempt to evade detection, the website frequently changed its domain name. Since its inception in 2006, the platform has amassed over 100,000 members and disseminated more than 50,000 copyrighted films. Financial investigations revealed that the network had circulated over 60 million baht.
This network was previously targeted by the Technology Crime Suppression Division (TCSD) earlier in the month for disseminating obscene material and for hidden advertisements of online gambling sites. Building on evidence from that operation, officials sought additional search warrants, which culminated in the recent raids, reported KhaoSod.
During the raids, authorities confiscated nine bankbooks, two ATM cards, 29 hard drives, three desktop computers, one tablet, two mobile phones, 33 memory cards, and flash drives. These items were seized as evidence as part of the broader effort to hold accountable those behind the illicit operation.
In related news, Thai cyber police successfully dismantled two major online gambling networks, confiscating over 18 million baht in cash and revealing a staggering 300 million baht monthly circulation. The crackdown was conducted yesterday under the operation of the TCSD.
