Is your ‘dodgy’ Fire Stick spying on you? Thieves could be emptying your bank as you watch sport & Disney films for free

WATCHING telly on your “dodgy” Fire Stick might initially seem like a victimless crime - but it turns out YOU might actually be the hapless victim.

The “cracked” streaming gadgets – which have been illegally modified to access premium content for free – could be spying on your every move, even letting crooks silently empty your bank account.

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Using a “dodgy” Fire Stick for piracy is unlawful, but some Brits are willing to take the risk of owning one to avoid forking out on TV fees.

You might have one of the so-called 'jailbroken' devices in your living room, totally unaware you've handed criminals easy access to your home and accounts.

So while you’re watching Premier League games, or sticking Disney’s Wicked or Moana 2 on for free, crooks can use your dodgy device to prey on you.

Experts have told The Sun that by streaming on a dodgy stick or app, which authorities and police are trying to crack down on, you risk instantly becoming a victim of fraud and even identity theft.

As well as putting yourself at risk of a £1,000 fine and even prison sentences, experts say criminals can spy on your online activities, hijack devices in your home, and potentially even listen in on conversations.

QUICK FLIX

Regular Amazon Fire Sticks don’t allow piracy – but TV fans can buy hacked versions for as little as £50, loaded with apps for watching telly illegally.

That's cheaper than a year of Netflix, which is £60 even for the cheapest plan.

Simply plug one into your TV and you’ll be served with pirated content like premium live sports or the latest Hollywood flicks.

Brits have flocked to these “cracked” devices to watch premium telly like Amazon's Grand Tour, Sky’s Game of Thrones, and live sports like November's Jake Paul vs Mike Tyson boxing match.

A DANGEROUS DECISION

A dodgy device typically sets Brits back around £49 to £85 in exchange for 12 months of access to premium content.

One online listing for a "fully-loaded Fire Stick" seen by The Sun had the device available for just £50 – far less than paying for all of the major streaming services.

It's not a new problem. A YouGov survey in 2017 revealed five million Brits were using pirated TV streaming services – including with "illegal Kodi boxes" and "Amazon Fire TV chipped sticks".

And it's still going on. In 2024, YouGov revealed that a quarter of people admitted they had pirated content.

And in 2023, one in 10 Brits confessed to watching an illegal sports broadcast in the last six months.

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'BIG BROTHER-STYLE' NIGHTMARE

It's seemingly commonplace - and criminals are exploiting this relaxed attitude to spy on you.

The Sun spoke to piracy-busting group BeStreamWise, who teach Brits about the dangers of using these devices.

“By illegally streaming, people are opening themselves up to multiple risks, some of which include identity theft, fraud, viruses and dangerous malware,” a BeStreamWise spokesperson told The Sun.

“Illegal streaming sites, apps and devices are often used to deliver dangerous malware to the user’s device.

“This then gives criminals access to users’ networks or devices, often in the background, allowing viewers to be scammed and opening them up to fraud or identity theft. 

“The risk increases significantly when people exchange credit or debit card information to purchase a jailbroken device or subscription.

“By sharing these details, consumers are giving criminals direct access to sensitive financial information.

“Devices that are connected to your TV and home network can give criminals 24-hour access to your data and beyond, without your knowledge.”

Experts say it turns your home into a Big Brother-style nightmare lifted from the pages of dystopian novel 1984.

They can let criminals monitor what you're doing from anywhere in the world – and you're not meant to notice a thing.

BRITAIN'S STREAMING BILLS

How much does it cost to stream telly in the UK?

You'll pay a pretty penny if you want to watch all the most premium telly in Britain.

Here's how much the top-tier subscriptions will set you back each month...

• Netflix Premium – £17.99
• Disney+ Premium – £12.99
• Amazon Prime Video without ads – £11.98
• Apple TV+ – £8.99
• Sky TV – £15
• Sky Sports – £20
• Sky Cinema – £10
• Paramount+ Premium – £10.99

And then there's the BBC TV Licence Fee, which is currently £169.50 a year (equivalent to £14.13 a month).

If you were to have all of those services, it would come in at £122.07 a month – or a whopping £1,464.78 a year.

However your bill could be slightly less if you claimed Sky TV's offer for a Standard-tier Netflix subscription with your plan.

These prices also don't include any pay-per-view sports events that you might want to watch either.

Picture Credit: Netflix

EXPOSED TO CYBERCRIMINALS

Jamie Akhtar, who co-founded security company CyberSmart, warned that they pose serious cyber security risks.

“Dodgy Fire Sticks are often modified using third-party software and unofficial apps, which lack the rigorous security measures of legitimate platforms," he told The Sun.

“Once installed, malicious software can collect personal information, monitor activity, or even provide remote access to .”

These unauthorised apps often request permissions to their device storage, microphone, or camera

James McQuiggancyber security expert

“Hackers can go undetected for long periods of time,” BeStreamWise told us.

“Once they have access to your network, they can steal your personal data and financial information in one attempt or over an extended period of time.

“Scams can be difficult to spot so we encourage people to regularly check their bank accounts and change their passwords often.”

CRACKING DOWN

Leading the crackdown on “dodgy” Fire Sticks is Britain’s Fact, or Federation Against Copyright Theft.

It works with the likes of Sky, the Premier League, and Virgin Media to root out the pirates serving up illegal telly.

This helps the police to target the crooks running the operations – stopping them from flogging their bootlegging services.

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Speaking to The Sun, Fact warned that Brits need to be on high alert over the security risks of these devices.

“It is vital that besides the criminality associated with illegal streaming, the public need to be made aware of the dangers,” a Fact spokesperson told The Sun.

They added that people using the sticks are “opening themselves and their families to fraud, scams, and identity theft”.

It’s this tangled web of online crime that creates the real safety headache.

Not only do the Fire Sticks cause piracy problems, regular Brits face long-term danger.

"The temptation to save money by modifying Amazon Fire Sticks or [using] unauthorised streaming apps is understandable, especially with the rising costs of subscription services,” said security expert James McQuiggan, speaking to The Sun.

“However, many users don’t realise the risk they take by bypassing legitimate platforms.”

James, a security awareness advocate at KnowBe4, warned of how criminals can target microphones and cameras in your home.

And once they have your data, they can then flog it on the dark web to the highest bidder.

“Unauthorised apps often request permissions to their device storage, microphone, or camera, where users essentially hand over their data to unknown entities.

“This data could be sold on the dark web, used for identity theft, or exploited in targeted phishing campaigns.”

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NOT 'A VICTIMLESS CRIME'

Policing the problem at this stage is difficult, and once your info ends up online, it’s almost impossible to remove it.

That’s why industry experts are warning Brits not to take the chance with illegal streaming.

“Illegal streaming isn’t a victimless crime,” a Fact spokesperson told us.

While it may seem like a low-risk, high-reward crime, the proceeds are used to fund other serious forms of criminal activity.

Detective Chief Inspector Emma WarbeyPolice Intellectual Property Crime Unit

“It undermines the creative industries and poses real risks to consumers."

Britain’s economy loses around £9billion a year due to counterfeiting and piracy, according to the Intellectual Property Office.

And it costs the UK around 80,000 jobs a year, the IPO claims.

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'A HUGE ISSUE FOR THE INDUSTRY'

British police have been cracking down, and last June the City of London Police’s anti-piracy division interviewed 11 people under caution over “fully-loaded” smart TV devices or sticks – and arrested one.

The 11 people targeted in the raid were cautioned and told to stop their illegal streaming business immediately – or face court.

“Illegal streaming is a huge issue for the industry,” said Detective Chief Inspector Emma Warbey, of the Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU), at the time.

“While it may seem like a low-risk, high-reward crime, the proceeds are used to fund other serious forms of criminal activity."

Last October, a 38-year-old man was arrested in Wolverhampton for selling “illegal streaming packages in bulk”, and in November a 29-year-old from Liverpool was handed a three-year and four-month prison sentence for flogging dodgy Fire Sticks.

Sky warned that this wasn’t just criminal – but also put viewers who buy the devices in danger.

“When people illegally stream they provide their personal information to criminals and the risks that result are very real,” said Sky’s Matt Hibbert, who heads up the broadcaster’s Anti-Piracy unit.

He added: “We’ll continue to do everything we can to protect our content from theft, and to help keep consumers safe.”

STREAM SMARTER – NOT MORE DANGEROUSLY

HERE'S some advice from The Sun's tech editor Sean Keach...

The fact that millions of Brits are turning to piracy isn't a surprise.

Telly subscriptions are now wildly expensive, and it's increasingly hard to justify having them all.

I mean a top-tier Netflix subscription will cost you £17.99 a month, while Disney+ comes in at £12.99 a month.

And the offering seems to be getting worse: Amazon now shows ads on your Prime Video movies and shows unless you pay extra (on top of your Prime membership) to remove them.

That's an extra £2.99 on top of the regular £8.99 fee.

Netflix, meanwhile, just hiked prices in the US – and experts told The Sun that a UK rise is likely to follow.

And if you pay for Sky – and extra services like Sky Sports – then your costs will simply balloon.

So what are you to do?

Well one of the best strategies to cut your TV bills is to try something called "service cycling".

That's where you only have one TV service active at a time, and then rotate through a list.

So one month you pay for Netflix and watch all of its top telly.

Then scrap it and move on to Disney+ the next month, before binning that and going to Amazon for the third month.

Do this with three or four services then start the whole process over again.

It means you'll get three or four months in each year to watch all of each app's content.

So you won't miss any top shows, but you'll avoid paying for all of the apps every single month for an entire year.

It brings enormous savings and you won't miss out on any great telly either.

Plus it's totally legal, so you don't have to worry about that.

One expert told The Sun that the security dangers mean it’s too risky to plug a dodgy Fire Stick in even once.

It’s possible that you might be sold a cracked streaming device by someone you know and trust, but experts told The Sun you’re potentially funding very serious crime that goes way beyond piracy.

“Illegal streaming services are increasingly operated by sophisticated criminal networks, who are often involved in other types of crime,” a BeStreamWise spokesperson told the Sun.

“Money generated from providing illegal streaming services can potentially fund wider organised crime and criminal action. 

“As an example, just last week Gary McNally from Birmingham was sentenced to two years and nine months for offences related to creating and operating an illegal streaming service.

“The service provided access to illegal streams, which included Sky Entertainment, Sky Sports and Sky Movie channels, as well as premium television content owned by other national and international broadcasters.”

An Amazon spokesperson told The Sun: "Amazon is committed to providing customers with a high-quality streaming experience, while actively promoting a streaming landscape that respects intellectual property rights and encourages the responsible consumption of content.

"On Fire TV, we’ve always encouraged our customers to use legal channels for accessing content and have included on-device warnings informing customers of the risks associated with installing or using apps from unknown sources."

NETFLIX PRICES – HOW MUCH ARE YOU PAYING IN 2024?

Here's what you need to know...

Netflix Standard with Ads

Price: £4.99

• Ad-supported, all but a few movies and TV shows available, unlimited mobile games
• Watch on 2 supported devices at a time
• Watch in 1080p (Full HD)
• Download on 2 supported devices at a time

Netflix Standard

Price: £10.99

• Unlimited ad-free movies, TV shows, and mobile games
• Watch on 2 supported devices at a time
• Watch in 1080p (Full HD)
• Download on 2 supported devices at a time
• Option to add 1 extra member who doesn't live with you

Netflix Premium

Price: £17.99

• Unlimited ad-free movies, TV shows, and mobile games
• Watch on 4 supported devices at a time
• Watch in 4K (Ultra HD) + HDR
• Download on 6 supported devices at a time
• Option to add up to 2 extra members who don't live with you
• Netflix spatial audio

Picture Credit: Netflix