Overview
- Police and anti-fraud squads targeted 17 areas across the UK in operations against modified Fire Sticks and illicit IPTV services, with Irish authorities issuing legal warnings that led to service shutdowns and account removals.
- FACT said thousands of UK users were contacted directly after customer lists were seized, stressing that viewers as well as sellers can face criminal charges under laws such as Section 11 of the Fraud Act 2006.
- Amazon confirmed it is blocking apps identified as enabling piracy on Fire TV devices, including sideloaded software, and will notify customers so they can uninstall flagged apps.
- Amazon’s latest Fire TV Stick 4K Select runs the Vega operating system, which restricts modification and removes sideloading to make “fully loaded” setups harder to install.
- Police and security experts warned that illegal streams and tampered devices carry high malware and fraud risks, and international actions such as Europol’s November 2025 operation against services worth about $55 million underscore the scale of the trade.