YouTubers under fire after allegedly demonstrating wire fraud for “educational purposes”

YouTubers Tommy G and rapper Punchmade Dev are coming under fire after showing a purported act of wire fraud in a video for “educational purposes only.”

According to statistics from the Federal Trade Commission, Americans reportedly lost a whopping $8.8 billion due to scams in 2022 alone.

With the rise of technology and social media, it certainly feels like instances of scamming are picking up more than ever before — and an influencer might be on the hook for the crime.

In a video uploaded on July 11, YouTuber Tommy G interviewed passersby about their thoughts on scams and spoke with alleged internet scammer and rapper ‘Punchmade Dev.’

YouTubers under fire for showing wire fraud in video

“The goal of this documentary is to inform,” Tommy said in his video. “First, to be aware of how scammers operate, and second, to encourage people to be the hero, not the villain.”

During the video, Punchmade demonstrated the technology he allegedly uses to scan people’s credit cards. He even walked into a bank, purportedly using someone else’s details, and withdrew $10k from their account.

Now, both Tommy G and Punchmade Dev are coming under fire from viewers, despite Tommy’s claims that his video was for “educational purposes only.”

“YouTuber try not to self-incriminate challenge: Impossible edition,” one user said on Twitter.

“Someone’s gonna be in trouble,” another tweeted.

“The amount of self-snitching going on in our generation is going to be studied for decades,” another wrote on YouTube.

YouTuber Punchmade Dev allegedly investigated over wire fraud in video

However, it looks like the reaction to Tommy G’s video is going beyond mere public backlash. According to social media posts from Punchmade Dev, it looks like the rapper is actually under investigation by authorities.

A screenshot posted by Dev seemingly shows a message from Instagram’s Law Enforcement Response Team notifying him that law enforcement asked for information regarding his account.

Judging by the yawning emojis he placed over the screenshot, it doesn’t look like the situation fazed Dev.

That’s not all; a video from Dev reportedly showing viewers how to scam people has been removed by YouTube following an appearance he made on streamer Adin Ross’s broadcast more recently.

This isn’t the first time an influencer has caught a crime on camera. In fact, one Twitch streamer caught a thief snatching a woman’s purse outside a Gucci store in Paris just last month.