Twitch confirms action against 150 streamers amid $10m money-laundering scandal

It is alleged that a total of $9.8 million was laundered through fraudulent credit card transactions on Twitch, primarily in Turkey. Twitch says it has taken action against multiple streamers in Turkey for abuse of the platform’s monetization systems.

The scandal first gained attention after the infamous Twitch hacks in which the income of the site’s highest earners was leaked. Following this, users noticed that streamers with a very small following were earning a lot of money every single day.

According to Middle East Eye, these streamers only had around 50 viewers, but thousands of dollars were transferred in the form of Bits.

It’s alleged that hackers stole credit cards and then arranged with the streamers to donate money to them using Bits. The streamers would then refund 70-80% of the money back into bank accounts owned by the hackers, keeping the rest.

Twitch takes action against streamers and hackers

In a statement to Dexerto, Twitch said they took action against 150 streamers in September, for abuse of its monetization tools.

•  Read More: Twitch streamer ‘Squid Game’ may change name after abuse

“Recently, members of the Twitch community have expressed concerns toward the legitimacy of some creators’ revenues in Turkey. We want to assure our community that we do not hesitate to take decisive action against accounts engaged in prohibited conduct,” a Twitch spokesperson said.

“We take efforts to combat and prevent financial fraud on Twitch on a regular basis, and, in September alone, we took action against over 150 partners in Turkey for abuse of our monetization tools.”

Furthermore, Twitch says that it is working with anyone affected by the scam who reached out to them, and will “continue to identify and remove any broadcasters found to have engaged in financial practices that are in violation of local laws or Twitch policies.”

Valorant pros involved in Twitch money-laundering

As Dexerto previously reported, multiple Valorant pros benefited from the scheme, including Acend’s Mehmet Yağız ‘cNed’ İpek who admitted as much in a Twitch stream.

While Riot Games is expected to ban those involved, cNed claims he wasn’t directly involved and that the “bit-dude” spoke with his brother.

•  Read More: xQc promises to gift Twitch subs to fans whenever he starts streams late

“That guy sent me the bits, the bits transferred to me. I didn’t report those bits to Twitch, I acknowledge that. I didn’t report to Twitch and took the money,” he revealed.

We will update this story if further action is taken by the streaming site or Riot games.