22 months’ jail for Sim Lim Square retailer selling illegal streaming devices showing EPL games

SINGAPORE – The director of a company that sold illegal streaming devices at Sim Lim Square was sentenced to 22 months’ jail on Nov 18.

Peggy Yu Peng Hsueh-Shu, 68, the director of Amconics Technology, had pleaded guilty to 14 counts of selling such devices which infringed the copyright of the Football Association Premier League.

Another 26 similar charges were taken into consideration for sentencing.

Her company was also fined $384,000.

The sentences are the highest meted out so far in relation to the

2022 enforcement raids at Sim Lim Square

that saw 17 people arrested and more than 2,500 illegal streaming devices seized.

The devices were worth about $500,000, and are typically pre-installed with computer programs to allow unauthorised access to copyrighted work.

Yu’s sentencing is the third to date in relation to the raids.

The devices sold by Yu were used to stream English Premier League, or EPL, matches such as the ones between

Newcastle and Manchester United on Dec 27, 2021

, and Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea on Nov 6, 2023.

The former had ended in a draw, while the latter saw Chelsea trounce Spurs 4-1.

Amconics began selling the devices from early 2014, with prices ranging from $169 to $275 each.

The profit margin for each device was around $50 to $140.

Aside from the devices, Amconics also sold illegal streaming subscription services, allowing users to access unauthorised content without having to purchase the devices.

The subscriptions were priced at three days for $1, five days for $2, three months for $10, a year for $40, and 400 days for $35 to $60.

The court heard that the total sales of the devices from 2019 to 2023 came up to almost $1.8 million, while the subscriptions netted between $15,888 and $29,790 in total estimated sales.

Yu had secured the supply of devices and subscriptions from an overseas supplier, and sold them at the shop in the mall and through an online shop on Shopee.

The Football Association Premier League sent three warning letters to Amconics from October 2020 to June 2021.

But Yu did not stop the sales, even after the shop was raided in 2022.

Amconics ceased operations only in January 2024, after a second raid.

In all, 314 devices and 662 subscription codes to the illicit services were seized in the raids on the shop.

Yu was prosecuted under Section 150 of the Copyright Act, which targets copyright infringement by commercial dealers of illegal streaming devices.

Offenders can be jailed for up to five years and fined up to $100,000 per charge.

The law was first used on a man who also sold illegal streaming devices at Sim Lim Square and was caught in the raids. He was

jailed for 10 months

in October 2024 and fined $300,000.

In May, the second person sentenced for selling the devices at the mall was jailed for six months and fined $181,000.

In a statement, the Premier League said Yu and her company had been involved in extensive online sales activity.

Premier League general counsel Kevin Plumb

said: “Today’s sentence reinforces what is now a clear legal position in Singapore: Selling illegal streaming devices or services is a serious offence with real consequences.”

He added that using such devices comes with risks and they may contain

malware, exposing users to cyber threats like online scams

.

He said: “We strongly urge fans to avoid pirate services found online, many of which carry significant risks, including exposure to scams, malware and fraud.”

This was not Yu’s first brush with the law.

She was previously convicted of infringing the copyright of nearly 15,000 music videos through the sale of unsanctioned karaoke players at Sim Lim Square more than a decade ago.

Then, she had also been charged with copyright infringement, having been in possession of the devices at the shop between November 2009 and July 2010.

She was initially sentenced to seven months’ jail, but was instead given a fine of $96,000 on appeal.