Italian authorities have dismantled a major piracy network built around the CINEMAGOAL app, which allegedly gave users illegal access to streaming services including Netflix, Disney+, Spotify, Sky, and DAZN.
Unlike many illegal IPTV services that openly advertise online, CINEMAGOAL operated in a more hidden way. Customers installed the app on their devices, and the platform quietly connected them to legitimate streaming services using valid authentication and decryption codes taken from foreign servers.
The crackdown was carried out under a large anti-piracy operation called “Tutto Chiaro,” meaning “All Clear.” Italian law enforcement conducted 100 searches across the country and seized materials that could help investigators identify those involved and calculate the amount of illegal profit generated by the operation.
According to Guardia di Finanza, Italy’s financial police under the Ministry of Economy and Finance, the operators behind CINEMAGOAL may have earned millions of euros through audiovisual piracy, unauthorized computer access, and computer fraud.
Investigators say the system used virtual machines in Italy to capture valid authentication and decryption codes from legitimate subscriptions every three minutes. These codes were then redistributed to paying customers. The original subscriptions were allegedly created using false identification details on platforms such as Sky, DAZN, Netflix, Disney+, and Spotify.
Authorities said CINEMAGOAL was unusually advanced because it did not simply rebroadcast pirate streams. Instead, users were able to stream directly from the legitimate services, which improved video quality and made detection harder. The system also helped hide customers’ real IP addresses, giving end users an extra layer of protection from monitoring.
Police also seized CINEMAGOAL servers in France and Germany during an operation coordinated by Eurojust. Those servers reportedly contained the app’s source code and tools used to decode protected streams. Around 200 financial police officers took part in the wider enforcement action.
The illegal service reportedly relied on more than 70 resellers, who sold annual subscriptions for between €40 and €130, or around $46 to $150. Payments were made through cryptocurrency, foreign bank accounts, and accounts registered under fake names.
Authorities estimate that CINEMAGOAL caused around €300 million, or about $347 million, in unpaid subscription losses during its operation. Investigators are now analyzing the seized material to identify everyone involved, including operators, resellers, and end users.
Many subscribers have already been identified. Italian authorities have sent penalties ranging from €154 to €5,000, or around $179 to $5,800, to the first 1,000 users connected to the service.
The investigation is still in its preliminary phase, according to Guardia di Finanza. During the same operation, authorities also identified and dismantled another illegal IPTV service known as “pezzotto.”
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