Streamers Beware: $1,000 Stolen from Twitch User

Live streaming of online poker games on Twitch.TV seems to be the latest craze. Everybody and anybody is doing it, with mixed results. Some of the stuff found there is quite entertaining, some other stuff - not so much. However, an event that unfolded a couple nights ago was, well, bizarre.

A thread that appeared on 2+2 describes an attempt of thievery in front of hundreds of viewers who were observing the live stream at the time. The wannabe thief either didn’t really think things through or he just didn’t care. Either way, here’s what happened.

A player going by the alias of ‘Epiphany77’ (Charlie) was streaming his Sunday session on PokerStars in cooperation with Gripsed Poker and when a long awaited 5-minute break arrived, he was all too happy to use the time to stretch his legs and do whatever else needed to be done.

This short window of time was used by the thief to log in to Charlie’s PC and transfer $1,000 from his PokerStars account to the account of a player with a screen name of ‘Kiree11.' The transfer went through and the perpetrator shut down the incriminating windows and went about his business, totally oblivious to the fact that hundreds of people were watching him do it in real time.

According to accounts in the thread, Charlie was made aware of the theft and contacted PokerStars to reverse the transaction, which they reportedly did. However, the whole thing is still really weird.

How did this happen?

So, how is it possible that another user was able to gain access to the victim’s computer and transfer funds to (presumably) his own account? To clear the air, such a theft would not be possible if the only thing running was the live stream, so all the streamers out there needn’t worry.

What opened up the possibility of the attack was the Team Viewer program running in the background, as it enabled remote access. Sometime during the stream, Charlie accidentally revealed the unique code and that info was all the thief needed to gain access.

It is still unclear why the Team Viewer was running (as it is not necessary for the live stream broadcast), but the owner of Gripsed Poker came into the thread and explained the situation.

Apparently, while ‘Epiphany77’ is an up and coming poker player, he is not well-versed with technology. The Gripsed owner was helping the technically-challenged player set up the stream and making sure everything was in order. The easiest way to accomplish that was by using remote control (e.g. Team Viewer) and, once everything was in order, they simply forgot to turn it off.

Is this guy for real?

The audacity (or foolishness) of this act left quite a few people perplexed, to the point where many who had seen it thought it was just a joke and that it was actually a friend playing a trick on ‘Epiphany77.’ However, it was confirmed that the incident was real.

How on earth the guy could think he would get away with it with so many people watching is beyond comprehension. Another (albeit remote) possibility is that the funds were moved to an account not connected to the perpetrator for who knows what reasons.

Without trying to figure out the whole thing due to lacking necessary information, it is still one of the most bizarre attempts of online poker fraud in quite a while (if not ever). If the thief really hoped his actions would go unnoticed, then he must be a very optimistic guy.

Maybe he is one of those players who gets it in with two outs on the river and sees it as a good spot, who knows? What remains to be seen now is whether there will be any further investigation and legal action taken against the perpetrator or if the entire matter will be forgotten in a couple weeks time.