World’s ‘most popular illegal site’ 123Movies SHUTS DOWN, warns users to STOP streaming

Successful pirate website 123Movies, which also operated as GoMovies, has confirmed plans to shutdown.

The streaming website, which offered users the chance to watch a slew of paid-for content for free, announced its closure with a message on its homepage.

The pirate website – one of the largest on the web – will cease operations at the end of the week, it confirmed.

123Movies has encouraged its fans to support the industry by paying to watch the latest films and television shows.

“We’ve been providing links to movies and shows for years. Now it’s time to say goodbye,” the message on the 123Movies’ homepage announces.

“Thank you for being our friends and thanks for staying with us that long.”

It advises users, “Please pay for the movies/shows, that’s what we should do to show our respect to people behind the movies/shows.”

123Movies saw almost 98 million visitors every month.

Earlier this week, the MPAA branded 123Movies the “most popular illegal site in the world”.

MPAA Executive Vice President & Chief of Global Content Protection, Jan van Voorn said: “Right now, the most popular illegal site in the world, 123movies.to (at this point), is operated from Vietnam, and has 98 million visitors a month.”

123Movies was only established three years ago or so.

During that time, it has changed its name several times – and an infamous reputation.

For example, last year saw the US Ambassador to Vietnam call on local government representatives to prosecute 123Movies’ operators on their alleged home turf.

The reason for the closure at the end of the week is unknown.

Some reports suggest legal pressure finally beat the small pirate operation, however the team behind 123Movies hasn’t commented on its motivation.

If the streaming site does shutdown at the end of the week, it will leave a substantial gap to fill – with millions of users looking for a new free stream provider.

The news comes as Pirate Bay saw a drop in web traffic of some 40 per cent, following a series of block.