“Fagin” fraudsters who ripped off Netflix, Disney and cinemas to rake-in more than half-a-million pounds have been jailed.

Barman Darren Bough, from Dover, and Billy Martin peddled illegal gadgets to thousands of Kent residents enabling them to by-pass monthly subscription charges.

Users could also watch Sky and BT Sports packages alongside exclusive movies, like Mary Poppins Returns and Guardians of the Galaxy 2.

The pair, who traded under BillsTV and advertised on Facebook, were snared after selling their £120 ‘Diamond Package’ to a council employee in 2019.

They were jailed for a total of three years and nine months at Canterbury Crown Court today (Friday), where details of the hi-tech operation were laid bare.

Working as part of a wider crime syndicate, Bough and Martin “supplied and sourced” USB boxes allowing customers to hack into streaming services between 2016 and 2019, prosecutors said.

They would advertise on a BillsTV social media page and by word-of-mouth, then request customers surreptitiously transfer money via Paypal.

Tiered annual subscriptions - including a £120 ‘Diamond Package’ - were offered to customers, prosecutor Andrew Johnson explained.

During the scam Bough, 35, even joked over text with his then-partner, over where part of his £399,536 ill-gotten gains should be laundered, the court heard.

Martin, 42, of London, had trousered £140,000 before Kent County Council (KCC) and the police smashed open the Kent cell.

Judge Rupert Lowe branded the duo a “couple of Fagins” who “facilitated theft by others” to “strike at the heart of online commerce.”

“This case concerns a fraudulent business, if I can dignify it with the word business - it was quite simply a cheat,” he continued.

“You two were the local suppliers in Kent for that IPTV cheat.

“You both started in this business to see it was an easy way to make money by committing fraud on legitimate businesses and, enjoying easy money, you both got stuck in with that activity.

“It seems, broadly speaking, you would charge £120 for the box and a year’s worth of subscription depending on what it was, what the level of service was.”

He added: “There is evidence you provided different levels of service. Evidence, for example, there was a ‘Diamond level of service'.”

Internet Provider Television scams are widespread and often involve modification of USB boxes adapted to hack into streaming services.

The court heard Bough, who worked as a barman at the Phoenix Railway Social Club, and Martin are understood to have cost the streaming giants hundreds of thousands of pounds, with cinemas also missing out on ticket sales.

But the exact sum has been impossible to quantify since their arrest in May 2019.

Both men pleaded guilty to fraudulent trading, acquiring and transferring illegal property.

Both parties made mitigation that they had families that relied upon them.

However, also recognising the time which had passed since the pairs arrest in 2019 and sentencing, partly due to the Covid backlog, Judge Lowe said the matter was “too serious” to avoid custodial sentences, sending a warning to others wishing to infringe copyrights or those who choose to purchase fraudulent subscriptions.

Phil Rowley, mitigating for Bough, said he was a man of previously good character who became “slightly blinded by the money available.”

The father-of-four, of Randolph Road, “made a foolish decision based on the attractions of the money made available,” Mr Rowley explained.

Martin, of Framlington Crescent who is also a father, has “an exemplary military record” after serving as a Lance Corporal in the army, where he subsequently suffered with PTSD, Christopher Whitehouse, defending said.

Martin was sentenced to 21 months imprisonment and Bough sentenced to two years.

An investigation will now begin under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

Clive Phillips, operations manager at KCC Trading Standards, said “Intellectual property crime damages the economy.

"It impacts on creators, avoiding tax and hampering innovation.

"We will investigate and take appropriate action to ensure there is a fair and legal trading environment in Kent."