Article Updated on 1/09/2008
We've posted various warnings about "companies" that sell pirated TV-DVDs on the 'net, often disguising them as legitimate sets and selling them to unsuspecting consumers, so it was with great joy that we read about the RCMP busting a major piracy ring in Montreal this past week.
50 RCMP officers arrested 8 individuals on December 19 after conducting raids on two Montreal locations. They intercepted packages containing 5,000 discs over a period of 4 days, and netted 15,000 discs and 200 DVD burners in an operation that could produce 14,000 discs a day. They're also asking people who may have been defrauded by these individuals to contact the RCMP:
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police encourages consumers to be cautious. Counterfeit DVDs are usually of inferior quality. The RCMP invites every person believing to have been misled into purchasing a counterfeit DVD instead of an original copy to report it to the RCMP at 514-939-8307, or to contact the Canadian Motion Picture Distributors Association at 1 800 363-9166 to verify the legitimacy of Web sites.
We've received hundreds of reports of pirated TV shows on DVD over the past year, many in the previous few weeks, and we expect the actions of the RCMP to put a major dent in the TV-DVD piracy operations in North America. If you've previously ordered a DVD set that turned out to be pirated material, or are awaiting an order for a complete series set that you feel may be pirated, please contact the RCMP at the number above. You can read more about this below.
Update: An article by Kevin Rollason of The Winnipeg Free Press reports that the some of the sites shut down include DVDAvenue.TV, DVD Store, AllMyFavoriteShows.com and Expediteur. You can read his complete article on WinnipegFreePress.com. The pirate sites used the newspaper as a return address for some parcels they sent out, causing the paper to become flooded with packages returned by angry customers.
RCMP Press Release
TQS.ca Video showing some of the material seized (French Audio)
CTV.ca News Story
CBC.ca News Story
Montreal Gazette News Story
