How Fmovies pirates movies to make hundreds of thousands of dollars

(Dan Tri) - According to the indictment, from inserting advertisements on the pirated movie website Fmovies, Phan Thanh Cong was paid more than 400,000 USD.

The Hanoi People's Procuracy has just issued an indictment to prosecute Phan Thanh Cong (35 years old) and Nguyen Tuan Anh (35 years old, both living in Mo Lao ward, Ha Dong district, Hanoi) for the crime of Infringement of copyright and related rights.

According to the indictment, from the complaint of Rouse Vietnam Law Company Limited (the authorized and enforcer of the rights in Vietnam of the Motion Picture Association of America - MPA) about the Fmovies website illegally copying and distributing 30 film works protected by the copyright of MPA in Vietnam, Hanoi City Police conducted verification and investigation.

Investigation results determined that Cong and Tuan Anh had known each other since 2008. Around September 2015, the two discussed and agreed to create the Fmovies website system to show foreign-produced movies for free to attract users worldwide to watch movies and insert advertisements.

Phan Thanh Cong when arrested (Photo: CAND).

When wanting to watch movies on the Fmovies system, users must first watch an advertisement from MGID Advertising Company (based abroad). This company pays for advertising to Cong and Tuan Anh.

The prosecution agency accused Cong of being the programmer, manager, and operator of the Fmovies website system; directly contacting, providing information, and receiving advertising money from MGID Company to advertise on the website.

Cong also bought a Google Drive account, created employee accounts to manage and operate the Fmovies system through the "admin" account.

When logging into this admin account, Cong will be able to track the number of movies, movie status, movie upload time, and number of people who have watched the movie on the Fmovies website.

Meanwhile, Tuan Anh is responsible for accessing the search link and copying and downloading the movie to upload to the Fmovies website system.

To avoid detection and prevention by management agencies, Cong has created a main website and many sub-websites (when users access, they will automatically be redirected to the main website).

According to the indictment, although they knew that copying, posting, and illegally distributing protected films was a violation of the law, for profit, from September 2015 to May 2022, Cong and Tuan Anh illegally copied and posted 30 film works of film studios protected by MPA.

The two defendants agreed that Cong would receive 90% and Tuan Anh would receive 10% of the total monthly advertising revenue received from MGID Advertising Company.

Website Fmovies (Photo: Screenshot).

The prosecution agency determined that from August 2016 to present, the total amount of advertising money that Cong has received from MGID Company is more than 400,000 USD. The amount of money Cong has benefited from illegally copying and screening 30 MPA films is 405 million VND.

Of the 30 copied films mentioned above, the prosecution agency has only identified 17 works that Cong and Tuan Anh copied, posted, and illegally distributed to Galaxy Play Joint Stock Company, Vietnam Satellite Digital Television Company Limited, and ITB TV LTD, causing a loss of more than VND920 million.

For the remaining 13 works, the investigation agency has sent a document requesting the Motion Picture Association of America to provide information on the transfer price of the distribution rights of the above films in Vietnam to determine the value of the damage.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/phap-luat/cach-fmovies-phat-phim-lau-de-kiem-loi-hang-tram-nghin-usd-20250207114956718.htm