Fans who use 'dodgy' Fire Sticks to illegally stream football are being 'monitored' as stark warning sent

Football fans who use Fire Sticks to illegally stream Premier League content have been sent another strong warning by authorities.

The use of Fire Sticks and IPTV has risen in recent years due to the rising subscription costs of official rights holders such as Sky Sports and TNT Sports.

The technology allows users to illegally stream content through broadband services, and the Premier League has been partnering with authorities to launch a crackdown.

Last month, the Daily Mirror reported that police forces were visiting the homes of suspected offenders in England as a part of a two-week enforcement programme.

It was claimed that the overall aim was to 'dismantle piracy operations'.

In November, a 29-year-old man from Liverpool was given a custodial sentence for loading and watching illicit streams on Fire Sticks.

He was sentenced to three years and four months in prison after pleading guilty to three offences under the Fraud Act, though that sentence included a separate concurrent sentence of two years and three months for accessing and viewing the illegal content himself.

Now, a copyright expert claims that fans are being 'monitored' by authorities in another major warning over Fire Sticks and IPTV services.

TNT Sports are one of three major broadcasters of the Premier League in the UK this season (Image: Getty)

David Ingham, whose Cognizant firm - who fans may be familiar with as the title sponsor of F1 team Aston Martin - works with broadcasters and rights holders, has stated that fans who access content using IPTV or Fire Sticks are likely 'having their identity stolen'.

He told the Daily Mail: "Piracy is absolutely organised crime. The networks behind it are very much like drugs, in how it filters down from very organised criminals in different countries... to you are at a party and someone knows someone who knows someone.

"You have to think, 'How are they funding that and why does it makes sense to do this stuff in the first place?'"

"If you go to a website and it says, 'Pay £5 for Sky Sports for an entire season', you are probably having your identity stolen as part of that.

"There's probably malware that is being delivered to you that is monitoring you in other ways. There's a big web behind it."