A Twitch Money Laundering Scam

According to a report by Daily Sabah, Turkish police officers detained 40 persons today in a sting operation against an accused group running a Twitch scam. The Istanbul chief prosecutor’s office initiated an investigation against the Turkish version of the streaming platform following the big Twitch data breach on October 11th, which exposed information about the site and content creators.

When numerous small streamers received unusually large donations in bits, suspicions were raised. According to the investigation, gang members were using Twitch as a money-laundering platform. Accused individuals allegedly sent bits, a virtual money on Twitch, to certain streamers using stolen credit cards.

The Twitch streamers would then “cash in” the large amount of bits being delivered to them, because bits have no worth until they’re contributed.

According to Jake Lucky, the group constructed bots just to monitor advertising and farm bits. According to reports, these bits were also transferred to streamers to be converted into currency. Bits are typically non-refundable, although there is an exception in the event of fraud. 

The Twitch fraud ring’s streamers were reportedly aware that the donations were being made with stolen credit cards. Many of the alleged streamers, including some pro players, are from the Turkish VALORANT community. 

The Turkish parliament was first alerted to the scam after popular streamer Jahrein made the observation, which was quickly picked up by Daily Sabah. 

Despite the fact that 40 people have been arrested, four more suspects are still on the run. Minors make up a number of the arrested members. According to reports, Twitch has taken action against over 150 Turkish partners as a result of the major fraud issue.