Music Week is reporting that filesharing site RnBXclusive.com has been taken down by the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA).

Visitors to the site – which is a huge concern, with over 250,000 likes on Facebook – are informed that “the individuals behind this website have been arrested for fraud”, and warned that past users “may have committed a criminal offence which carries a maximum penalty of up to 10 years imprisonment and an unlimited fine under UK law.”

As if that wasn’t heavy-handed enough, visitors are shown their own IP address on-screen and informed that “SOCA has the capability to monitor and investigate you, and can inform your internet service provider of these infringements. You may be liable for prosecution and the fact that you have received this message does not preclude you from prosecution.”

SOCA – an agency which claims on its website to tackle serious crime such as “Class A drugs, people smuggling and human trafficking, major gun crime, fraud, computer crime and money laundering” – signs off with a nice moral message for us all to take home:

“As a result of illegal downloads young, emerging artists may have had their careers damaged. If you have illegally downloaded music you will have damaged the future of the music industry.”