Turkish police officers detained 40 people today in a sting operation against an accused gang conducting a scam on Twitch, according to a report by Daily Sabah. Following the massive Twitch data breach that occurred on Oct. 11, which leaked information regarding both the site and content creators, the Istanbul chief prosecutor’s office launched a probe into the Turkish version of the streaming platform.
Suspicions arose when several small streamers were receiving unusually high donations in bits. The probe has since claimed that gang members were using Twitch as a money-laundering platform. Accused members reportedly sent bits, a virtual currency on Twitch, through stolen credit cards to select streamers. Since bits have no value on their own until they’re donated, the Twitch streamers would then “cash in” the massive amount of bits being sent to them.
The group created bots solely to watch advertisements to farm bits, according to Jake Lucky. These bits were also reportedly sent to streamers to convert into currency. Though bits are normally non-refundable, there’s an exception in the case of fraud.
The streamers who engaged in the Twitch fraud ring were reportedly aware that the donations were being sent from stolen credit cards. Many of the accused streamer participants come from the Turkish VALORANT community, including several pro players. The scam was initially brought to the attention of the Turkish parliament after popular streamer Jahrein made the observation, which was soon picked up by Daily Sabah.
Though 40 people have reportedly been detained, four other suspects are at large. Several of the members arrested include minors. The massive fraud scandal has resulted in Twitch taking action against over 150 partners in Turkey, according to Dexerto.
