Kodi boxes can catch fire or electrocute users, authorities warn

'These illegal media players may look harmless but they operate outside all the regular safety checks'

More than 40 “potentially dangerous” pirate streaming boxes have been seized in a raid that took place earlier this month.

The devices, which are illegal and give users free access to copyrighted content, were found to be unsafe.

According to Councillor Antonia Cox, Westminster Cabinet member for public protection and licensing, the devices “could pose a risk of electrocution or fire”.

The boxes “resemble other commercially available media players” and were being sold on eBay for under £100, says Westminster City Council.

Called ‘Big Vision’, they were pre-loaded with Kodi add-ons for illegally streaming TV shows, films and sports fixtures.

They were being sold by a 53-year-old man, who has been arrested as part an investigation involving Westminster Trading Standards, National Crime Agency, the Government Agency Intelligence Network (GAIN) and the Federation Against Copyright Theft (FACT).

He had been operating out of a property in the W2 postcode.

Westminster City Council told the Independent that it's "unknown how many he’s sold so far", but "he had 40 in readily available stock, [and] if he wasn’t stopped he could have sold hundreds" of them.

“These illegal media players may look harmless but they operate outside all the regular safety checks, and could pose a risk of electrocution or fire,” said Councillor Antonia Cox.

“By buying these gadgets you may be cheating actors and creatives out of their earnings, and even worse you could cause an electrical fire in your own home.”

Westminster Trading Standards discovered safety issues with the two-pin power supply included with the boxes, and found that they "breach the electrical code".

The popularity of such devices, which have become widely known as “fully loaded Kodi boxes”, has increased rapidly over recent months.

A recent BBC survey found that over a third of football fans now illegally stream Premier League football at least once a month.

Though the boxes have nothing to do with Kodi, they’re often pre-loaded with the software – which is legal – and a number of add-ons built specifically for piracy.