DStv content thief fined after an online advert led police to his door

A Cape Town businessman who stole and sold DStv content has escaped jail by a whisker.

The Bellville Specialised Commercial Crimes Court handed Jordon Lee Mot a seven-year jail sentence, which was suspended for five years, on Tuesday.

This was on condition that he deposited a “lump sum” into the Criminal Asset Recovery Account (Cara). Cara is a separate account in the National Revenue Fund into which money and property are deposited after a judicial forfeiture or confiscation order.

Mot, the sole director of JP Limitless Sa (Pty) Ltd, illegally advertised, possessed and sold listed android TV boxes and Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) belonging to MultiChoice.

He was bust in 2019 when Jan Andreas, a piracy investigator whose employer is contracted by MultiChoice,  owner of DStv, stumbled on his adverts online.

Mot was “selling Android TV boxes, IPTV subscriptions with over 3,000 channels and over 300 videos on demand”. Andreas then contacted Mot, who told him that there was “a promotion on an android TV box, including one month’s IPTV subscription for R6,000”.

In August, two years later, Andreas placed an order and was provided with bank details.

He visited Mot’s address in Bellville the following day and “was welcomed by a lady who showed him the different applications on the Android TV box” and  saw “a box full of Android TV boxes in the house”.

Andreas took the box home to establish whether it was working. He found that updated South African channels were playing, and all SuperSport channels on the DStv platform were active and working on the IPTV subscription service. 

According to the prosecution, the IPTV was at no stage issued with such a DStv subscription.  Mot did not acquire the rights to access or distribute programmes on the DStv platform.

A trap was set up and Mot was phoned to provide another Android TV box. On  October 2, Mot met with the “client” who paid R780 for an Android MI TV Stick that was preloaded and required no password or link to connect. He was arrested and police found more Android TV boxes on his premises.  

Eric Ntabazalila, spokesperson for the prosecution, said Mot, who entered into a plea and sentencing agreement with the state, was convicted on seven counts of the prohibition on the manufacture, possession, and advertising of listed equipment.

“In his plea and sentencing agreement, Mot confessed that he did not acquire any right, or authority to promote, distribute, possess, offer to sell, or sell or enable access to the protected content from MultiChoice.

"After successfully applying for a confiscation order, the accused agreed and paid R60,000 into the criminal asset recovery account,” said Ntabazalila.

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