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DVD scam netted brothers a fortune
BY DAVID BRUCE YORKSHIRE film fans were among thousands of victims of two brothers who masterminded a counterfeit business that netted them almost £400,000 in just 18 months.
Skinhead brothers Paul and Jason Tame bought counterfeit DVDs from crime gangs in the Far East – and sold them for a hefty profit to unsuspecting customers across Europe.
Investigators said that the money their suppliers made from the illicit trade would have been fed into the seedy world of drugs, prostitution and slave labour in the Far East.
The British-based brothers' business operated from five addresses in the Hastings area. They acquired fake copies of recently-released DVDs including the highly popular Spiderman video.
The brothers advertised the DVDs on the internet as well as local newspapers. Many of their customers lived in the Yorkshire region.
But, the brothers' money-making scam eventually came to an end because of a large number of complaints from customers.
They told police and a film industry watchdog that the films were of such poor quality they were unwatchable.
Raids
Police and investigators from the Federation Against Copyright Theft (FACT) moved into action and seized almost 7,000 counterfeit DVDs during raids on five addresses in the south-east.
In March this year, Paul Tame, 34, and his brother Jason, 30, pleaded guilty at Lewes Crown Court to a sample Common Law offence of defrauding the film industry. Yesterday Paul Tame was given nine months in jail and his brother four months behind bars.
They masterminded a counterfeit video business which is said to have made in excess of 250,000 per year. Over the 18 months they operated their scam they are calculated to have earned almost 400,000.
The counterfeit DVDs were bought from Malaysia for 1 each and sold on through an elaborate Internet mail order operation for 5.
Pat Timoney, UK Theatrical Piracy Manager at FACT, said: "The conviction will send out further warning to those who think they can get away with video counterfeiting and piracy.
"The Tame brothers were blatant in their Internet advertising of their services and they now face a substantial period of time in prison to reflect on this." Their operation was eventually blocked by the internet service provider.
Lavinia Carey, Director General at the British Video Association (BVA), said: "Yet again, FACT has had another success story in the war against video counterfeiting. The Tame brothers were serious film fraudsters, obtaining illegal goods from gangs in the Far East involved in serious organised crime.
"The profits these gangs received from the brothers will have been fed into drugs, prostitution and slave labour."
david.bruce@ypn.co.uk
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