Fake films gang admit web racket: 9,000 copied films watched by millions

Sahil Rafiq, aged 25, of Warnford Walk, Wolverhampton, and Ben Cooper, 33, of Dilloways Lane, Willenhall, appeared at Wolverhampton Crown Court for sentencing alongside their three co-conspirators.

They were part of a racket that created copies of blockbuster films and distributed them on the web for free.

The pair were expected to learn their fate today after all the evidence is heard, along with Reece Baker, 22, of Colletts Grove, Birmingham, Scott Hemming, 25, of Perry Common Road, Birmingham, and Graeme Reid, 40, of Kingsclere Walk, Chesterfield.

All five have admitted conspiracy to defraud, in that on diverse dates between March 1, 2010 and January 1, 2014, they conspired together, and with others unknown, to defraud by making, copying, distributing or making available on line infringing copies of films.

Together, they were part of a plot believed to have resulted in copies of up to 9,000 films being watched by as many as five million people in less than four years.

Prosecutor David Groome, representing the Federation Against Copyright Theft, told the court of the great lengths the group went to in order to conceal their identity, and the variety of ways they went about obtaining and distributed copied films.

He said: "These men either founded or were part of what are known as 'release groups'.

"They obtain copies of films, and then work on them before releasing Torrent versions.

"Security is quite high in British cinemas but, in some countries abroad, it is not so.

"Quite often release groups will receive what's known as a CAM - a video recording of a film from the back of a cinema.

"They will then get rid of the foreign audio, and edit in British audio which they have obtained using a concealed dictaphone at a British cinema."

He added: "Film companies have a 'watermark' style security mechanism in place for cinema films to stop piracy.

"The films being shown have a number of dots on the screen, not visible to the audience, which, if the show has been copied, tells the film company what screen in what cinema and in what town from which the film has been copied.

"They can then track down CCTV to find out who is responsible.

"But some members of this group have 'de-dotted' films, in order to protect the identity of the people who provide them with the copies.

"Quality can also be edited to get a high quality copy.

"Another method they have used is to copy DVD's. Discs normally have software installed to prevent people copying them, but there is another type of software to disable this, which was used.

"They have also somehow obtained a number of 'Screening' discs, which are used for premiere's and distributed to journalists and publicity companies on the strictest instructions that they do not show them to the general public."

Mr Groome told how Rafiq's release group, named '26K', was found to have uploaded 885 films on four Torrent sites which were checked.

He said: "This group created Torrents, which involved films being fragmented into thousands of parts, uploaded to the internet and then downloaded by other users for free.

"It is impossible to tell how many times the films they have uploaded have been distributed online.

"We looked at four websites, where 885 films uploaded from 26K were found. There are hundreds of Torrent websites.

"They didn't do it for money, more to earn street cred. They were after kudos for being the first or the best at providing Torrent films."

Rafiq ran the 26K group after previously working for DTRG, and specialised in releasing CAMS of films before the official release dates. He also uploaded DVD rips.

Mr Groome added: "It is the prosecution's case that this crime hasn't just cost the film companies money, it has affected all people working directly or indirectly, from cinemas screening the films right down to people working in shops that sell DVD's."