Illegal Firesticks

Freedom of Information (FOI) Act request ref: 01/FIN/26/004403/T

Version Date: 23/03/2026

The Performance Analysis Department has provided the following information:

Please could you tell me the number of people arrested for using or distributing illegally altered devices, such as Amazon Firesticks, to access premium channels over the last three years. I believe this may fall under Section 11 of the Fraud Act 2006.

Please provide figures by calendar year (2025, 2024, 2023) and 2026 to date if held. If five years of data are held, please provide that. If possible, please break down by those arrested for using and distributing the devices.

Performance Analysis completed searches in Niche and reviewed the returned data and have concluded that for ‘distributing illegally altered devices’ there has been a nil return.

If possible - and held in a searchable format - please provide me with the number of arrest records containing the words “Amazon Firestick”, “firestick” or “fire stick”.

There were 149 reported occurrences with the above keywords mentioned in the occurrence summary or OEL log and 58 people arrested. 2 of those were arrested in relation to fraud offences but not distributing illegally altered devices.

Action Fraud (actionfraud.org.uk) is the UK’s reporting centre for fraud and so may hold more information about your request.