The Sûreté du Québec arrested five individuals Tuesday morning following a rare investigation into the alleged hacking of telecommunications signals. The suspects are believed to be linked to two companies, Arubox.tv and Stocker IPTV.
An individual considered to be a Hells Angels connection, Éric Grenier, is the administrator of a numbered company that owns Arubox.tv.
His Laval condo was searched by investigators from the SQ’s Proceeds of Crime Recycling Bureau in May last year, but his name would not appear on the list of people arrested Tuesday morning.
PHOTO PATRICK SANFAÇON, THE PRESS
In May 2023, SQ investigators entered the Laval building housing Éric Grenier’s condo.
Grenier, who used social media to advertise his products, was once nicknamed the Hugh Hefner of Quebec due to his involvement in adult entertainment in the past, and was once a member of the Red Devils, a school club of the Hells Angels.
PHOTO FROM FACEBOOK
Éric Grenier poses in front of decoder boxes from the company Arubox.tv.
His company is called Arubox.tv, because Grenier reportedly lives, at least partly, in Aruba.
The five suspects will be notably accused of conspiracy, theft of telecommunications services, fraud and laundering the proceeds of crime. Other arrests are expected, underlines the SQ in a press release.
Freezing orders against the suspects’ assets could also be requested.
3500 channels
The two targeted companies offer, at $250 each and $25 per month, a decoder that uses IPTV technology and the possibility of receiving, at any time, 3,500 channels from Quebec, Canada, the United States and elsewhere. in the world.
On its website, Arubox.tv presents itself as “the future of TV” and as a TV provider offering “all channels, all films, all series in all languages”, and “direct access to sporting events “.
According to the SQ, the number of Arubox.tv customers doubled between 2020 and today, going from 3,000 to 7,000, and the profits generated illegally amounted to at least $2 million annually.
It was a group of private telecommunications companies, led by BCE (Bell), which filed a complaint with the SQ which then triggered the investigation called Radiophonie.
These businesses have not been able to estimate their losses, but they are estimated to be in the millions of dollars, according to police.
A person found guilty of laundering the proceeds of crime faces a maximum sentence of 10 years’ imprisonment.
According to our information, Éric Grenier was seen in the company of members of the Hells Angels during the investigation and the police do not exclude that a fee was paid to the criminal organization.
Last year, SQ officials indicated to The Press that this investigation demonstrated the desire of the provincial police to attack organized crime from all its angles.
One of the last known police investigations into telecommunications signal thefts was conducted in 2018 by the RCMP.
Federal police searched the home of a former Videotron employee and seized technological equipment in an investigation targeting Cielo 4K, an internet TV distribution service.
To contact Daniel Renaud, call 514 285-7000, ext. 4918, write to [email protected] or write to the postal address of The Press.