Report: Turkish players involved in Twitch money laundering scandal

Updated on Nov. 3 5:35 p.m. UTC: Acend Acend Inactive ALIVE Gilad Hakim musashi Alessio Xhaferi pyrolll Artur Minin cullumx Nikolaj Cullum Andersen chiwa Egor Stepanyuk has officially commented on cNed's involvement in the scheme. Much like the player and his brother have said, they were unaware of the scam and still do not know if the bits were connected to money laundering or stolen funds.

While cNed has not yet been contacted by Riot, Twitch or Turkish authorities, Acend say they are happy to cooperate with them.

Updated on Nov. 2 6:47 p.m. UTC: Jahrein has since been summoned by Turkish cyber forces for deposition.

The scheme is reported to have amassed scammers nearly $10 million USD.

BBL have also parted ways Kerimhan "kero" Duman, Cassiex3 and Dilâra , the latter two coming from BBL Queens BBL Queens Inactive .

Ibrahim "lurzy0y0" Sandıkcı announced in a TwitLonger he has left Fire Flux Esports Fire Flux Esports Europe Rank #16 . Inactive have dropped Ertuğrul "TheCady" Koç and Ege "TheNightChe" Nuhoğlu.

A Twitch spokesperson told Dexerto that the company is aware of the money laundering scandal. The spokesperson said Twitch will "continue to identify and remove any broadcasters found to have engaged in financial practices that are in violation of local laws or Twitch policies."

The first evidence of the scheme came to light on October 22, according to Esporkolik. It was initially contained to free-to-play MMORPG Knights Online, but soon spread to other games and streamers.

Updated on Nov. 1 12:10 p.m. UTC: Riot Games Turkey's Country Manager Erdinç İyikul said on the morning of November 1 that the regional Riot office is aware of the scheme. Riot will wait for all the information to be disclosed by the authorities and have not taken any sanction decisions.

Erdinç İyikul

@erdinciyikul

Son dönemde yaşanan gelişmeleri yakından takip ediyoruz. Konu ve suçlamalar oldukça hassas. Tüm bilgiler ana sorumlu otoriteler tarafından açıklandıktan sonra ancak kendi değerlendirmemizi yapabiliriz. Riot Games Türkiye şu aşamada herhangi bir yaptırım kararı almamıştır.

Several other political figures have come out in support of #TemizTwitch.

Updated on Oct. 31 8:25 p.m. UTC: Upcomer has reported that Alihan "deNc" İpek, Mehmet "cNed" Yağız İpek's brother, is involved in this scheme after screenshots of a conversation between him and one of the alleged scammers appeared on Twitter. Minutes earlier, deNc released a TwitLonger statement. In that statement, deNc said both him and cNed were contacted but later decided to not participate in the scheme. A bits transaction later took place without cNed's consent, according to a translation of the statement.

According to Upcomer and Jake Lucky, Riot is set to take action and ban the involved players. Turkey's Anti-Cyber Crime Department will also launch an investigation into the money laundering scheme, according to Esporkolik.

As first reported by Jake Lucky and confirmed by VLR.gg, hundreds of Turkish streamers and players have colluded in a money laundering scheme through Twitch bits and donations.

Jake Lucky

@JakeSucky

A MASSIVE Twitch scandal is ongoing in the Turkish scene involving dozens of esports players and streamers money laundering through bit donations

After Twitch’s massive payout leak, people noticed several smaller streamers making absurd amounts of money from bits (1/2)

Following Twitch's leaks earlier this month, several Turkish streamers seemed to be profiting off of Twitch bits and donations. According to Jahrein, a Turkish Twitch streamer who advocated for the #TemizTwitch (#CleanTwitch) movement, the money was obtained from stolen credit cards. The scammers would then pay the streamers in bits, who would give a portion back to the scammers.

The scandal has spread like wildifire in Turkey and has gathered the attention of some political figures within the country. Gürsel Tekin—vice-president of the oldest political party and one of the largest in Turkey—has put out a statement saying he has presented the matter to the MASAK (Financial Crimes Investigation Board), a body of the Turkish Ministry of Finance and Treasury, and calling for a judicial investigation.

Gürsel Tekin

@gurseltekin34

Twitch uygulaması üzerinden milyonlarca dolar kara para aklayan ekonomik çıkar amaçlı suç örgütleri ile suç geliri temin eden yayıncılar hakkında önergeyi @HMBakanligi’na sundum. Konu MASAK tarafından acilen incelenmeli, adli ve süreç hemen başlamalı. #TemizTwitch

In the tweet thread above, Tekin also says the people responsible are part of an international network stealing credit card details from several countries, among them the U.S. and Germany.

Among several Valorant-related names allegedly involved, BBL Esports BBL Esports Europe Rank #34 Jamppi Elias Olkkonen sociablEE Volkan Yonal chiwa Egor Stepanyuk PROFEK Dawid Święć LewN Burak Alkan 's Semih "legoo" Selvi has admitted via TwitLonger that he was a part of this scandal. The player says he earned over $80,000 USD, with approximately $4,000 of those being sent in through bits. On his stream, Ekrem "logicman" Aydın announced has also left the team and admitted to participating in the scheme.

HertzT9 contributed to this article with translations.

this guy only knows how to make drama out of nothing before paura now cned and his brother
i'll explain one of bbl's former players legoo admited in his twitlonger that he was involved in the bits scam and he said that the guy who offered him the bits said to him " i did this to my brother also " and legoo referred to this guy as a (abi ve arkadaş ) which means ın turkish a friend who's like a brother... anyway after that bbl player aslanmashadov and former bbl player russz hinted on twitter that this guys is cned's brother by saying " who do u think this friend is " and " i expected it from his brother (cned's brother ) " after that cned's brother made a twitlonger explaining that he had nothing to do with it and they refused the offer to begin with and he then twetted a video of aslanmashadov and russz hard swearing at cned for leaving bbl and mocking him by saying "his brother really thinks he could join fnatic and g2 " and this tweet that u shared is aslanmashadov's answer to the video saying " i knew that the bits wasnt enough for you when you tried to sell some of cned's equipment that came with the sponsorships on letgo" which have nothing to do with this whole shit but this guys mindset is i have to answer him with something or i lose.