Media captionInside Out goes undercover to expose the criminals touting illegal pay-for-view TV packages at knock-down prices. Criminal gangs are selling hacked pay television services at a fraction of their true cost, a BBC investigation has revealed. Subscribers to satellite or cable TV can pay more than £80 a month to legitimately receive premium packages. But fraudsters were caught on camera selling set-top boxes which access equivalent packages for £10 per month. In light of the findings, experts warned hacked satellite and cable TV is increasing and becoming the 'new norm'. How it works The television signal is received in the usual way, but it is encrypted by the broadcasters in an attempt to prevent piracy. The boxes use the internet to stream the encryption key, allowing the viewer to receive channels.

One of the fraudsters exposed by the BBC London/Inside Out investigation was Gyula Markovits, a Venezuelan satellite dish installer living in south London. He sold hacked boxes that receive every conceivable channel for less than an eighth of the normal monthly price. So many people are doing it, it is becoming the norm Dr Luke McDonagh, Copyright law expert He boasted that he had 150 customers, generating him almost £20,000 a year in illicit income. Ski Doo Graphics Template For Arcade on this page. Mr Markovits subsequently denied all wrongdoing. Shop 'closed' Another fraudster, who called himself Ahmed, sold BBC researchers numerous fraudulent packages from satellite TV shop Golsat in Upton Park, east London. He said of the £150 access to all Sky movies and sport: 'This is nothing for what you [are] going to watch, seriously.'