Hackers Use Twitch Streaming Site to Launder Staggering $ 10 Million

Hackers are said to have used the steam site Twitch to launder scores of millions of dollars (£ 7.32 million).

The scheme earned hackers in Turkey a huge amount of money, according to several reports.

The scam was exposed last month after a group of anonymous hackers leaked the source code of Twitch – which is owned by Amazon – to expose users’ payment information.

According to MiddleEastEye, users in Turkey quickly realized that something was odd – streamers with few or almost no subscribers were making thousands of dollars through a platform called Bit, which allows viewers to express their appreciation to hosts. with special paid emojis.

The platform transfers 1% of the revenue earned via Bit to individual streamers – some of whom were earning up to £ 1,500 a day, despite having a small number of viewers – only 40-50 in total.

The complicated scheme involved hackers stealing credit card details from random people, negotiating the details with the Twitch streams – which would send them large payments via Bit – then the streamers would return 80% of the money to an account. difference belonging to pirates.

Emre Basaran, of Daily Sabah, explained: “You buy 1000 bits for $ 10 (£ 7.32) on Twitch with the stolen credit card, you ‘encourage’ them all to a streamer, then they refund you $ 8. (£ 5.86).

“It’s guaranteed money for the fraudster and the Twitch streamer whether they like it or not.

“I make this distinction because apparently some Twitch streamers are victims as well.

“Some Twitch streamers knew their guaranteed money came from stolen credit cards, but others claimed that they were themselves duped by scammers, who allegedly told streamers that the bits were acquired by watching ads on Twitch and they were looking for a way to convert them to real money.

News of the scam prompted #dobettertwitch to become a trend on Twitter, as Turkish Twitch users called for a “clean Twitch” with the hashtag #temizTwitch.

It is believed that around 2,400 Turkish streamers were involved in the scam.

A Twitch spokesperson told Middle East Eye that the company has taken action against 150 streamers in Turkey for abusing its monetization tools.

The spokesperson said: “We want to assure our community that we will not hesitate to take decisive action against accounts engaging in prohibited behavior.

“We regularly work to combat and prevent financial fraud on Twitch, and in September alone we took action against over 150 partners in Turkey for abusing our monetization tools.

“We also worked with those affected who contacted us. “

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