Twitch: Money laundering on Amazon’s streaming platform – 18 arrests

Fraudsters were up to mischief with money laundering on Twitch. After raids in nine cities, 18 swindlers have been arrested – one suspect is still wanted.

Istanbul, Turkey – Twitch brings together streamers from all walks of life to share their talents with the world on camera. With so many users on Amazon’s streaming platform, there are bound to be some with malicious intent. A money laundering scandal has been making headlines on Twitch since January 2022. A new development in the case led to 18 arrests in nine Turkish cities – a scammer is still wanted.

Twitch: 18 arrests after raids in Turkey – a scammer is still wanted

What happened? On 05/17 the Daily Sabbath reported for the first time on new developments in the case of the money laundering scandal on Twitch. A total of 18 alleged fraudsters are said to have been arrested who are said to have been involved in the illegal activities on the streaming platform. The money laundering scandal was uncovered on Twitch back in January 2022.

Turkey’s cybercrime authorities carried out multiple raids in Istanbul — along with eight other cities simultaneously — on Tuesday to arrest the suspects. The fraudsters are accused of stealing credit card information in several cases. Authorities said they were still looking for a scammer. A video shared by Dexerto shows a suspect being arrested.

What did the scammers do? After the streamer’s earnings were disclosed in a major Twitch leak, there were some inconsistencies that caused suspicion. Streamers, who should actually earn much less, were donated conspicuously large amounts of Bits (Twitch’s own currency). The investigation by the Turkish authorities showed that it had to be money laundering.

The scammers are said to have worked together with streamers and laundered the money through bit donations. The streamers were prepared for one or more Twitch donations, of which they paid back a proportion to the donors. The money was donated using stolen credit card information from unsuspecting victims.

Twitch: More arrests in money laundering scandal – over $10 million

The first wave: In January 2022 it became public that the Turkish authorities had arrested 40 suspects in the money laundering case on Twitch. With the new raids, the number of fraudsters arrested increases to 58. It is not known whether the crooks were able to launder more money on Twitch during this time.

A calculation by the Turkish online news outlet Gamegar showed that the scammers are said to have laundered over 10 million US dollars via Twitch. They are said to have received the help of over 2,400 streamers for this. Twitch has already banned many of the creators involved in the money laundering scandal.

Rubric list image: © Twitch/Imago (montage)