- Twitch has confirmed that it is taking action against the ones involved in the infamous Turkish money-laundering scandal
- The streaming service revealed it already penalized 150 people back in September
- Twitch announced it wouldn’t hesitate to punish unhealthy behavior on its platform
Twitch has confirmed that it is taking action against those with ties to the Turkish money-laundering scandal.
A Quick Rundown of The Events
Twitch confirmed it has taken action against 150 of the streamers involved in the Turkish money-laundering scandal.
A quick rundown of the recent events – when the Twitch leak revealed the earnings of the top streamers on the platform, people noticed that a big number of Turkish VALORANT content creators have earned sums that are disproportionate to their fanbase.
The suspicious finding led to an investigation that unveiled $9.8 million has been laundered as scammers would send streamers money in the form of Bits. The content creators would then transfer back about 70% of the sum and keep the rest for themselves.
To make matters worse, the origin of the money seems to be stolen credit cards and other unlawfully acquired proceeds.
Twitch Vows to Punish Fraud
Twitch wasn’t very glad to learn how the players have been abusing its mechanics. The platform quickly compiled a list of 300 names that would receive various punishments.
A spokesperson from Twitch confirmed to Dexerto journalists that actions have already been taken against some of the streamers that took part in the scam. The platform representative explained that Twitch will not hesitate to punish fraudulent behavior and to take “decisive action against accounts engaged in prohibited conduct.”
“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,” the spokesperson revealed.
The platform is currently working with Riot to investigate the VALORANT professionals who have also been involved in the scandal. Twitch is proceeding carefully about this, especially since many content creators try to claim innocence.
Semih “LEGOO” Selvi, for example, one of the players on Twitch’s ban list, claimed that he did take part in the operation but was completely unaware of the illegal nature of the proceeds. Mehmet Yagiz ‘cNed’ Ipek, on the other hand, wasn’t directly involved and had his brother, Alihan ‘deNc’ Ipek, lead the communication with the scam’s ringleaders.
The situation is still unfolding. With Twitch’s dedication to integrity, it is possible that there will be more penalties issued to the money-laundering participants in the future.
