There are dangers from streaming matches from unofficial sites

[Amphenomenon]

We know somehow subscription on official platforms to stream live matches can be expensive and many has opt to use other platforms offering really lower fee or entirely free subscription for Live matches.

In my country this is somehow common and one thing I have noticed about such sites is that they are filled with various ads, which is obviously were they get their money.

Now, Jenny Radcliffe, a professional hacker, has claimed the risks of illegally streaming are huge. Here is her statement

The perception that illegal streaming is a victimless crime is completely inaccurate

The sites that host these services are loaded with malicious links, back doors and tricks to access people’s digital and financial information, giving professional criminals an open invitation to steal from anyone who engages in these activities.

Whether it's multiple charges to credit cards, installing malware on devices, accessing bank accounts, or stealing personal information such as emails, messages, contacts, photographs, documents and browsing history, engaging in illegal streaming makes you a prime target for professional fraudsters.

And what is worse, because these activities are illegal, victims may have little or no recourse for recovering their losses and may even face criminal charges themselves.

Outside this fact another reason to avoid this is from the news about The Premier League has increased its efforts to prevent fans, whereby those caught offering such services with no copyright face charges and possibly jail terms https://www.sportbible.com/football/football-news/premier-league-iptv-illegal-streaming-godaddy-court-prosecution-561857-20240425

[Oshosondy]

The sites that host these services are loaded with malicious links, back doors and tricks to access people’s digital and financial information, giving professional criminals an open invitation to steal from anyone who engages in these activities.

It is loaded with ads. Also your information is not safe as the streamers are selling your information to third party. Not only this, it is just like those free VPN and other free services loaded with ads and sharing people's information with third parties for money. I try as much as possible to stay away from ads and other things like this. Ads can contain malware or link you to a site that contains malware.

[BABY SHOES]

Similarly, we also see local news in my country, one of the platforms that holds the broadcasting rights of the Premier League has announced “Anyone who broadcasts English league broadcasts without permission will be reported to the authorities,” Several previous cases where people have been arrested for pirating English league broadcasts from Vidio and then streaming them on social media.

So I'd rather subscribe every month for about $3.71 a month than have to watch illegal streams that are full of ads and may have malware in them.

Now many unofficial streams are scattered, you when doing a search on Google or Yandex will find many there, when the site is blocked they will appear with a new domain again.

[famososMuertos]

::/.baby shoes/::: I'm going with the same thought, pay the monthly fee, it's that simple, now in my case it's almost $18 a month where I can watch all the games live, NBA, Football, Tennis, baseball, etc., I only pay one additional for the NFL, but what service charges you so cheaply? ($3.71)

[danherbias07]

I agree and we as responsible viewers should not subscribe to or encourage these illegal streamers by watching their livestreams. There's always a way if we want to watch for free although the quality is not as good as the paid ones. Gambling sites! I just watch my favorite games on online gambling sites although the screen is small and the quality ain't that great. If we are only aiming to be updated with the live score then that's the best option we could get.
Also, there are local TV channels that provide live-streaming games, if you have cable then it's better, that just means you have more options to watch the games. I've once bumped into a free streaming service but it's true, there are super ads popping out left and right or before you could even watch the game 3 - 5 advertisements will pop out and sometimes it even opens a new window which I think is not secure.

[BABY SHOES]

::/.baby shoes/::: I'm going with the same thought, pay the monthly fee, it's that simple, now in my case it's almost $18 a month where I can watch all the games live, NBA, Football, Tennis, baseball, etc., I only pay one additional for the NFL, but what service charges you so cheaply? ($3.71)

I use the Vidio.com service which is specific to my country.

And this is the sports show offered by their service that I subscribe to here.

Even the annual subscription is only $29 including tax.

So I would rather subscribe to the premium package with very good quality and no ads.

[Davidvictorson]

We know somehow subscription on official platforms to stream live matches can be expensive and many has opt to use other platforms offering really lower fee or entirely free subscription for Live matches.

In my country this is somehow common and one thing I have noticed about such sites is that they are filled with various ads, which is obviously were they get their money.

Any illegal services offered online no matter how relatively inexpensive their service fees charge may seem compared to the legal alternatives is a breeding ground for scammers, hackers and the bad eggs on the internet. In my country we would always say, "penny wise, pound foolish" and in this context, it means that if you avoid paying fees and opt to use illegal streaming services, when you eventually get hacked, you will lose your money, documents or very sensitive information stored on your device. The cost fixing the damage caused by the hack will exceed more than you would have spent on paying on a legal and authorized streaming platforms.

[Rruchi man]

So I'd rather subscribe every month for about $3.71 a month than have to watch illegal streams that are full of ads and may have malware in them.

One challenge is that, due to economic challenges and the rising cost of things in some people's countries, it is not only the cost of television subscriptions that has risen but the cost of many other things as well. This has forced some people to consider using streaming apps since their favorite games are not aired every day as a remedy to cut costs and manage funds.

They are unaware that in trying to cut costs and save money, they are making themselves available and vulnerable to criminals and hackers online.

[Hirose UK]

It is true that using an illegal streaming platform is very risky and of course there will always be negative impacts that we might receive in the future. Every sports fan must be careful when subscribing to streaming platform and not use what they should not use.
But for me, I actually don't need to be too complicated if I want to watch various matches, especially for the most popular league, namely the English League, because there is TV channel in my country that partners and broadcasts every English League match.
This can make it easier for everyone in the country I live in if they want to watch various football matches, plus not only the English League but several other leagues.
However, there are also quite lot of streaming platforms that are truly official and have been accredited well and can really be relied on for fairly low monthly subscription fees.
But still, everyone lives in different countries and they have to really choose and always be careful if they want to subscribe to an existing streaming platform.

[alani123]

Generally speaking, browsers are a sandboxed environment and won't just let anyone access your information so easily especially if said info is stored locally.
As if any site with third party ads can't have malicious code run into its window. For example, if I visit any top ranking website I'll be greeted with many advertisements that are run by third party publishers. Well, i maybe trust example.com but I don't even know who their publisher is. And there have been many examples regular websites are hit with malicious code that steals cookies and user data or even shoots the user with malicious pop-ups. It could literally be any website though, not just the streaming websites. But there's a simple solution...

Just run uBlock origin. No, other ad-blockers won't do because they're allowing ads from publishers that pay them, sometimes even letting through malicious advertising. So uninstall any other adblocker you have and just go with uBlock origin. This way you can enjoy your streaming risk free. If you want it to be extra secure also block pop-up completely within uBlock origin.

[_act_]

Any illegal services offered online no matter how relatively inexpensive their service fees charge may seem compared to the legal alternatives is a breeding ground for scammers, hackers and the bad eggs on the internet. In my country we would always say, "penny wise, pound foolish" and in this context, it means that if you avoid paying fees and opt to use illegal streaming services, when you eventually get hacked, you will lose your money, documents or very sensitive information stored on your device. The cost fixing the damage caused by the hack will exceed more than you would have spent on paying on a legal and authorized streaming platforms.

This thread is educative but I do not like how it is only directed to just illegal steaming. What about Google, Twitter now called X and other legal online sites like that?

Check this report and you will be surprised: Scam Sniffer 2023: Crypto Phishing Scams Drain $300 Million from 320,000 Users

You will see Google and Twitter to be the leader of those that make scammers get to their users and the government are doing nothing about it.

[Agbamoni]

The sites that host these services are loaded with malicious links, back doors and tricks to access people’s digital and financial information, giving professional criminals an open invitation to steal from anyone who engages in these activities.

It is loaded with ads. Also your information is not safe as the streamers are selling your information to third party. Not only this, it is just like those free VPN and other free services loaded with ads and sharing people's information with third parties for money. I try as much as possible to stay away from ads and other things like this. Ads can contain malware or link you to a site that contains malware.

Its unsafe with the VPN part also. The website offering the football matches have their own ads and when you have managed to pass those long ads you will be told to connect your VPN to get access in your areas, funny enough these VPN also has multiple ads in them. My question is how do people using these free services feel comfortable to go through all these process that would last about 5 minutes before you can watch the football matches?

Also, these sites have unlimited interruption of network. From time to time, you either need to refresh the site due to network bridge and then you will need to start the process again to before you can watch. Sometimes we should just save ourselves the risk and do what is right to avoid internet attack that might occur due to our ignorance.

[Davidvictorson]

This thread is educative but I do not like how it is only directed to just illegal steaming. What about Google, Twitter now called X and other legal online sites like that?

Check this report and you will be surprised: Scam Sniffer 2023: Crypto Phishing Scams Drain $300 Million from 320,000 Users

You will see Google and Twitter to be the leader of those that make scammers get to their users and the government are doing nothing about it.

It is true that Google, Twitter and other legal online sites also harbour scammers and hackers however, you know that they have a communication channel for reporting these types of scams and hacks. Even if nothing seems to be done immediately, at least users has found some kind of closure. This is unlike the illegal streaming services where is no channel for reporting these hacks or scams. Victims of hacks or scams are basically on their own.

[_act_]

It is true that Google, Twitter and other legal online sites also harbour scammers and hackers however, you know that they have a communication channel for reporting these types of scams and hacks. Even if nothing seems to be done immediately, at least users has found some kind of closure. This is unlike the illegal streaming services where is no channel for reporting these hacks or scams. Victims of hacks or scams are basically on their own.

I will not also encourage anyone to do it. But if you know how to avoid scam and malware, there is no problem.

Do not be on the side of those Google and Twitter and other likes them. Scam of highest magnitudes are existing there. The more problem is that many people will think they are legal and be clicking and accessing everything Google is suggesting them. That is why Google is the number one among the sites that people got a link to scammers and get scammed.

The scam through Google is more than the scam through the streaming sites. All should be avoided or do it in a way you can avoid scam.

[Fivestar4everMVP]

I believe for those of us who have spent years online and have encountered alot of challenges here and there, which have built up to the experiences we now have, will know that any thing that is free online definitely will come with some hidden disadvantages, or sometimes, it's not even hidden, this is why we often see that paid stuffs provide ad free service, because in those ads, are hidden alot of stuffs that can harm the user, those who understand this take the pain to subscribe to the paid version of every service they engage in, so as to enjoy the service without any disturbance from unwanted ads.

I personally do not stream sports online, and neither do I stream anything aside from watching YouTube videos, I did advice those who engage in stream sports match to stream only from the official and recommended platforms, might not be free, pay for it, it's not a bad thing for one to spend some money on things he or she loves, in the end, it's still for your safety and peace of mind.

[boyptc]

It is loaded with ads.

Exactly, the website are bombarded with ads and you'd hate to see that. At the same time, I won't trust those websites that you'd see some uncommon domains that they're purchasing quickly just to build that unofficial stream websites.

With your purchase and subscription to the official one, you're supporting them. This is like helping the company to continue to give their service with a small amount of fee.

[Betwrong]

The sites that host these services are loaded with malicious links, back doors and tricks to access people’s digital and financial information, giving professional criminals an open invitation to steal from anyone who engages in these activities.

It is loaded with ads. Also your information is not safe as the streamers are selling your information to third party. Not only this, it is just like those free VPN and other free services loaded with ads and sharing people's information with third parties for money. I try as much as possible to stay away from ads and other things like this. Ads can contain malware or link you to a site that contains malware.

Wow. I didn't know about that. Do you think all of them free VPN services are like that?

[Oshosondy]

Wow. I didn't know about that. Do you think all of them free VPN services are like that?

Among the free VPN that I know of, the only one that I have tried that does not display ads and which I think do not share customers information is Proton VPN. It is a paid VPN but which has free version that can be used but with limited locations. They generate money from those that subscribed to the VPN services and not displaying ads for those that make use of the VPN freely.

Paid VPNs generate money from users subscriptions and not ads and selling of customers information.

Tor is the best for privacy but can not be used to access some sites. It is free and I use it to access any site I can use to access but use VPN for the sites I can not use Tor to access.

[SamReomo]

I agree that one should avoid streaming matches from unofficial sites as those could have multiple issues for the streamers. The first issue is of course the presence of malware. Most of those non official steaming sites have malware in them and that malware could cause huge damage to streamers.

The streamers who can't afford to pay the monthly fee of the legit steaming services often try their best to watch those matches on those unofficial steaming services. All of those sites are bloated with ads which help them to make money, and the site owners don't care about the users and their privacy.

[btc78]

Now, Jenny Radcliffe, a professional hacker, has claimed the risks of illegally streaming are huge. Here is her statement

The perception that illegal streaming is a victimless crime is completely inaccurate

The sites that host these services are loaded with malicious links, back doors and tricks to access people’s digital and financial information, giving professional criminals an open invitation to steal from anyone who engages in these activities.

Whether it's multiple charges to credit cards, installing malware on devices, accessing bank accounts, or stealing personal information such as emails, messages, contacts, photographs, documents and browsing history, engaging in illegal streaming makes you a prime target for professional fraudsters.

And what is worse, because these activities are illegal, victims may have little or no recourse for recovering their losses and may even face criminal charges themselves.

We all are aware that illegal streaming sites are indeed harmful the thing is most people still risk it or they just don’t care because they are not holding anything in that device. Maybe they do not have of any importance that they are keeping however getting a virus in your device can be just as damaging.