ELSPA busts first pirate of 2009
via Computer and Video Games
ELSPA's answer to CTU, the Intellectual Property Crime Unit (IPCU) is back, and it's stepped up its game and is far more serious for 2009 - just like the new season of 24.
Kicking off 2009 with a bang (or a bust) the boys in blue at ELSPA have successfully cracked a pirating ring in an unemployed man's Staffordshire house, which was used to sell dodgy Xbox games on Gumtree.
Prior to it all kicking off in Staffordshire, Police successfully infiltrated the man's house by posing as a pirate punter, handing of a console for alteration that would enable it to play illegally copied games.
Whilst undercover, the ELSPA investigator and Trading Standards officer were also offered copied Xbox 360 games for purchase. Schoolboy error.
The cuffs were on and after an explosion-filled raid that could've filled 15 minutes of a Prison Break episode, officers recovered four computers with burners and more than 1,000 illegally copied games
The offender, who cannot yet be named for legal reasons, made a full confession and admitted to running the illegal operation for approximately two years. Don't mess with the IPCU, criminal scum.
The Intellectual Property Crime Unit vowed to step up its fight against counterfeiters and illegal chipping services in 2009: "We would like to thank Staffordshire Trading Standards for their excellent work in bringing this online operation to an end," said ELSPA boss Michael Rawlinson.
"Such illegal activity can pose real health dangers for the public and certainly deprives gamers of any proper quality control. Furthermore, it can cause the industry to lose vital income and with it jobs across the UK."
