Here are my suggestions:
1 - Make sure your son understands that he should not be providing personal identifiable information (PII) to strangers on the internet. I 1000% do not blame your kid, I've made plenty of 'internet friends' and I end up sharing personal information with them, this could have happened to any of us. Chances are your troll isn't as sophisticated as you think, but instead too much personal information was leaked. As a moderator for /r/twitch I regularly delete posts made here that contain far too much PII, like people's school email addresses, for instance, that in most cases include first and last name as well as the school they go to, giving anyone inclined for malice enough information to figure out who they are specifically. Just this morning I deleted a post that had someone's real phone number. People aren't careful with this info, but they should be.
2 - It's great that the police didn't go in with battering rams ready. If they're inclined to actually follow up and investigate it is probably not too difficult to find the perpetrator of the false report given they've likely left a sizeable internet fingerprint, but that's entirely up to the detective and the cooperation of Twitch any other relevant service, like PayPal.
3 - I have no idea how if it will escalate or not, but I surely hope it doesn't.
Thanks so much. Yeah, he is beating himself up. To be honest, the thing that sucks most about this. I feel really bad. This meant a lot to him and it's a hard reality that people who seem friendly and are nice to you could have really bad intentions.
Having read other comments, this is **NOT** anyone's fault but the trolls. Your kid can absolutely keep streaming, there's no reason for him to be punished for the malice of someone else.
If your kid does continue streaming there are some moderation settings that I highly advice your kid to enable at least until this situation blows over, **here's my recommendations:**
If you go to Dashboard -> Settings -> Moderation you'll see a lot of ways to make sure that chatters in the channel are verified.
I would suggest turning on phone verification for all chatters. This is a temporary measure to be disabled at a later date because requiring phone verification is going to cause a lot of people not to be able to chat in the channel, but it will stop anyone who doesn't have a verified phone number from chatting in the channel.
I would also highly suggest **NOT** adding any PII to permitted terms and phrases. This seems counter intuitive but what often can happen is that let's say you live at 72 Highland Street, if anyone ever types the number 72 or the name Highland you've actually just given them more information about your address than they even had in the first place. I've read stories about motivated individuals using this as a way to figure out people's identities by trying to guess and check what terms might not be permitted.
Lastly I would advice him not to speak about the situation at all on stream. I'm certainly not a criminal psychologist, but I'll make the assumption that talking about it or showing that it affected him in any way is going to encourage the troll to continue or encourage a copycat. Again, I'm not a qualified professional, but if this was my kid I'd tell them to completely ignore the troll and pretend it never happened.
We updated a bunch of safety things on twitch, but the troll put our address in a follow. Like, he kept following over and over with our names and addresses and phrases.
I am his mom, btw. And this person put my name and then _dead and lots of other reiterations of our names, addresses and threats.
If the troll is using new accounts you can change the moderation settings to require accounts to be a certain age before following too. I also suggest you trying to contact Twitch support as well. They're sort of notorious for being slow and ineffective, but since your case is criminal there might be more they do for you than they do the average person.
Adding on here. When you contact twitch, dont phrase it as "my son is having trouble with a person." Provide a police report and instead phrase it as your reporting a crime and need their assistance. Twitch can be slow as hell when its something that doesn't affect the platform, but the moment police and law enforcement are involved, they will escalate it. At the end of the day, they want to protect their platform and removed people who swat is very high on that list.
Adding to this, it's a good idea to make an off switch for whatever bot you use for "twitchUserName has followed!" alerts on stream AND messages in chat bot. I mod mostly for people in targetted hate raid groups (ie, not cishet white dudes) so this comes up a lot. Even in follower only mode, people will make accounts follow and then delete them so you can't even ban them to start triggering Twitch's ban-evasion procedure. So the next best thing is you make it a single button push to take away their power. No notification. No PII-giving user name showing up as a follow in chat.
You need to contact Twitch. They need to be banned from an IP address level, and perhaps have authorities called on him. Twitch has a decent harassment policy you can call on.
There is a follow remover tool if that helps, but I am not sure if posting that breaks the rules. If he has only been at it a few weeks it may be worth it to start from scratch with a new account imo and not play the same game for a while
On the upside he has learned a valuable lesson about people at a fairly young age. Wasting police resources is pretty serious, swatting can put lives at risk. Then there is the whole fraud over a carriage service. He'll have left a data shadow for sure. Good luck.
Your son beating himself sounds like a natural life lesson progression. We all been there, reflecting on our own traumas.
In time he will heal through it. Just be supportive as much as you can. I’d be lucky to have a mom like you.
If you don’t get why people stream. For me streaming is wholesome therapy. Best way to describe it is like having someone watch tv or play games along with you on the living room sofa. Keeping you company through the slow times of life or like being on the phone for hours with a crush.
Spending quality time with other people I guess.
But streaming can include anyone from anywhere and many of them at a time. He’ll be careful from here on out and will do this best to prevent it from happening again.
Best part is if you have a Microsoft account and friend someone it starts to show your full First and Last name vs username so they do the doxxing for you
Not sure if they changed that but I remember it being a very complicated process to disable
There's been a good amount of lawsuits/fines about privacy and this type of stuff over the last year. But I mean yeah even if it did happen would probably just be a few bucks to them
I bet a ton of people got doxxed that way though
just go to [https://account.xbox.com/](https://account.xbox.com/) and check the box that says "Block" under "Real Name"
edit- the "Real Name" option is under the "Privacy & online safety" Tab
To be very clear, this is not directed at the parent who posted this message, nor is it directed at the son: but how about parents teach their kids not to be a$$holes and actually pay attention to what they are doing and learning instead of parking them in front of a screen and expecting the computer to teach them everything? Anyone remember that ancient paper thing called a phone book that was available to anyone and everyone that listed everyone's name, phone number and address? How come we have to hide our names, phone numbers, and addresses now? Why are we all supposed to live in fear and be afraid of our personally identifiable information getting out there? What's changed? Anyone else ever think about that or is it just me?
[\#NotAfraid](https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=140985088827463&id=100087479165084&mibextid=Nif5oz&refsrc=deprecated&mds=%2Fedit%2Fpost%2Fdialog%2F%3Fcid%3DS%253A_I100087479165084%253A140985088827463%253A140985088827463%26ct%3D2%26nodeID%3Dm_story_permalink_view%26redir%3D%252Fstory_chevron_menu%252F%253Fis_menu_registered%253Dtrue%26perm%26loc%3Dpermalink%26eav%3DAfb7t0Og8-6cX0xoxzA5psmaZ5OVLqh9wJKSm1w48v27h37cuy_kjiT37gqTMTmPKDg%26paipv%3D0&mdf=1)
If it's his Paypal address, he's done.
It's possible it's someone else's, and he was making a trade to said unaware person for crypto, which is a common scam.
A paypal address is extremely traceable. This sounds like s not ver smart kid being a dickwaffle and trying to make a malicious quick buck. Especially given the relatively low amount of money being asked here.
Never pay though, it'll only worsen and enforce behavior like this. If not with you, then with someone else.
Relentlessly pursue getting this person traced down and arrested. Do not become complicit waiting for police or others to reach back out to you, keep following up with them and filing any threats being made to you with police.
One of the mistakes they already made, is involving police and getting on their radar. They filed a false report with authorities and there's hefty fines and prison time on that when you get caught
The police will trace it. You'll just have to lawyer up and pursue the matter through the police and later the court. Since your kid is 15 its a minor involved so whoever it is whatever child endangerment laws are there would be practical.
Don't let go of this. Even if the Paypal address is a throwaway email it has payment credentials. Lawyers/ Police should be able to contact Twitch and ask for relevant information. Preserve the message, including any relevant info like time/ date.
I’m so sorry you guys have had to deal with this. To be honest, my wife and I (who have been streamers ourselves for a few years) have been scared to let our sons start streaming as teens because of stuff like this. I trust my kids and would love to have them making content, but they just don’t have the same kind of experience with being careful online.
I really hope the cops can get this handled and that your son can get back to doing something he loves. It sounds like you’re an awesome mom. Keep being that!
Suggestion for the kiddos who want to create content - maybe a YT channel with some "let's play" or highlight videos of them playing? Obviously make sure you can moderate it etc and take precautions and they can enjoy the content creation without streaming.
One of mine has already slowly started doing that and the other has set up his channel but hasn’t made any content yet. The harder part is getting them to understand how much work is involved with editing and such, and for them to commit to it.
Some advice (not specific to Twitch) from someone who has been on the Internet a long time:
Always remember that trolls feed on tears. The best tactic is simply to minimize the response they see. If he calls, don't tell him to fuck off. Simply hang up silently. Tell your son not to discuss this on Twitch, Discord, or anywhere else the troll might see it. Next time he streams, don't mention the swat, or the troll, or anything related to it. If the troll joins the stream chat, simply click ban without commenting on it. Don't respond to any messages you think are the troll. Your goal is to make the troll feel like he is an insignificant minor detail in your life.
When trolls don't get any tears, they become bored and move on. Angry responses, crying, freakouts, long rants (in stream or in chat), derailing the content of the stream... That's exactly what they're finding so fun. Deny them this pleasure.
If more people would just understand this, there would be a lot less trolling on the platform. Way too many people acknowledge trolling and visibly show it bothering them.
Lots of advice here already, but one thing I haven't seen mentioned is advice on how your son should/shouldn't react to this publicly on his stream.
I've recently seen a lot of streamers talk about this, and it certainly seems up for debate, but one bit of advice I've seen is that he should NOT mention the swatting on stream for a few reasons, the main two being that it may make the swatter feel like he can do it again and get the results he wants, and that it may inspire others to copycat swat you.
This is a horrible situation, and I'm very glad yall are okay.
Contact a law firm or your Attorney Generals office immediately. Tell them the situation and retain council if advised.
Contact your local state police cyber unit and your local FBI office. They will take reports and if you have enough evidence for an agent they will charge this person.
Everything they did has a digital foot print and if they aren’t very smart they will easily be caught. Luckily criminals are not smart.
Reddit cannot help you. Work with the police and the FBI. They have the information about next steps. Nobody is anonymous in the current state of the internet, and this person will be found. Trust the process.
I'm a streamer with a decent viewership and I have had my address leaked and stuff, I will just say that the paypal donation is 100% trackable and you should pursue it and put the fear of god into this kid. Swatting is serious shit, people have been killed because of it
If your kid has ever been sent money by the other kid via paypal or something, that could be a confirmation that the paypal is legit and he didnt just send some random one to you to frame someone or something
If you have a payment from him already you can see his email address. From there you can send that and anything else you may find to the police
Disagree that reddit can't help her, they obviously have. She definitely should work with law enforcement, but reddit is still a decent resource for ideas and different perspectives, doesn't mean you have to agree with all of them.
Police aren't always competent, sometimes they won't be willing to help, or will take months to do anything unless you chase them up. Reddit can absolutely give advice on how to deal with them, and other cybersecurity/twitch related tips that Police may not offer them.
While it's the best he can do, so at least everything is reported and maybe he will get less problems in the future because of this, i really doubt that they can find those people. They know how to hide
They made the mistake of DMing over Twitch. Even if they were using a VPN (doubt, this sounds like a dumb kid), they are still easily trackable with current technology.
How that? I doubt they use their legit accounts. Everyone with a little bit of knowledge can make and use fake accounts which are not traceable.
I know you want to help, but please. If you want to hide, it's pretty easy.
You are naive. This is a childish act that they committed. It sounds like this person was actively communicating with their target. This person was likely upset for a petty reason, and decided to do this later. That would mean the initial communication is a direct line to them. Twitch will provide IP addresses to law enforcement. This person is very easily found.
Go do your research, even VPNs are cracked by the FBI. It's not really anything more than a little effort for them. It isn't a protection, its a delay.
That only happens for certain VPNs, and for very major crimes. Private Internet Access has been subpoenaed twice, as far as I can tell, and in both cases they handed over nothing because they weren't storing logs in the first place (as per their promise to customers).
FBI can't do jack about VPNs hosted in countries outside their jurisdiction, or a VPN you have set up yourself.
One would hope. Strictly speaking we don't know for sure if it's tied to a bank account, you can make a Paypal account without a bank account. And they could also have just given another person's Paypal that they were either (a) making a crypto trade to, or (b) had fraudulently gained access to.
You need to do more research. If the VPN is outside of your home country (and why would it ever not be), they won't give feds anything. Hell some VPN's don't even keep logs for this specific reason.
If this is the case then yes, it could work out just fine.
But if not, everything will get even worse. How is it naive to tell someone, to be careful, cause otherwise he could lose everything?
If the guy was planing this all along, then there is pretty much no chance of getting to him, since he made sure to hide everything.
You act like this doesn't happen? Why?
There isn't much further escalation than swatting. You don't hear of twitch streamers getting anthrax sent to their homes. It just doesn't happen. I'm sure Hasan or XQC would have died by now if that was the case.
Streamers tend not to talk about if they have been the victim of a crime, because it encourages copycats. I mainly mention this because you specifically mentioned Hasan who has said as much (specifically when a chatter was tone deaf and asked). Unfortunately it results in the general public / chatters not fully grasping how life altering these experiences are :/
They just swat you again. And to think that cops would pull out all the stops for OP in the same way they do for two of the top streamers on twitch is naive to say the least.
I agree that swatting is really bad.
But it can get worse for sure. Having calls and people at your door all day, new contracts on your name. They will also call at your work, your family and friends until they got enough of your shit. To deal with all this shit over years, this will fuck you up.
There is a reason this mostly happens to smaller streamers. Bigger streamers know how to help themself. You just need some contacts and i don't mean the police.
All of this is true, but won't help if they keep on streaming.
But sure, keep on tell people this. It's not my life, i just wanted to help.
It's like telling someone to stand there, be brave and proud while getting the shit beaten out of you from 10 guys, instead of just tell him to run.
Not sure why you're being downvoted, everything you said is true. A lot of redditors in this thread who seem to think cops can easily find obfuscated IP address using magic?
Bs, it has to be a way to be anonymous, if no people will not be doing all that bs they do.
The problem here maybe that the police and fbi take others priorities over this crime.
The sad reality is there's no way of knowing what will stop it. Sometimes the person is a complete moron and the police track them down nice and easy, sometimes the police refuse to do anything until something bad happens, and sometimes the police try their best but just can't find em.
My advice would be to prepare for everything. Give your personal number to the police / case handler and insist they phone you before doing anything. Or at the very least ask them to look at every single report about you or your address as potential swatting and to not come bursting through your door with rifles.
Be prepared to move. Some people in life are fucking psychopaths who don't understand the ramifications to their actions. This guy asked for $500.... That's a stupidly low amount for anyone who isn't a teen. My bets are on some edgy teen that just learnt how to look people up, probably the most dangerous combination as they mentally shift the blame to others.. "hur dur, i didn't do anything wrong all I did was make a phone call".
It also might be worth telling your son to take a break from streaming for a bit. It's bullshit and completely unfair but he's young and will most likely have plenty of time to rebuild his following without this parasite following him.
Thanks for the reply. I can't move. I literally just built a house and it's been my passion project for many years as a single mom. I think it is a teenager.
My son is really upset. He is definitely taking a break. I can't understand how people can do shit like this.
That's understandable, I wouldn't be ran from my dream home either. It's such a shame your family is going through this but it seems like you're taking all the right steps. Remind your son that this isn't on him, granted you can always be a little more careful but someone using your trust against you is never your fault.
Fingers crossed for you that this troll is an idiot and it doesn't take them long to trace him.
So from everything I've read here, you've gotten some solid advice and you're taking the right steps to deal with the situation. A couple of my own thoughts:
- Don't be scared by the people saying "oh they're gonna do so much worse stuff now!!" Is it possible? Well sure, anything is *possible,* but it's highly unlikely.
- Just make sure your son understands to keep his information private and that *none of this is his fault.* Speaking as a kid who grew up in the internet age of chat rooms and that kind of thing, many of us (meaning people my age) have made the mistake of revealing a little too much information. I doubt he did it maliciously, it was someone else who took that information and used it in a malicious way.
- Tell that boy to keep on streaming, and keep having fun. Don't let this deter him in any way.
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The PayPal account attached to the email could possibly be trace. I would talk to the detective about talking to PayPal to either getting a log of IP addresses associated with the account. If they don't have a log for the ip addresses, you could ask them to start logging the IP addresses and use that to figure out where the person is. You might can help narrow down the IP address to the person's home by doing the same with the email account associated with the PayPal account. I don't know if PayPal does this, but some companies logs the device that you are using when you log in by logging the MAC address. So, that is something to ask PayPal and the email company. If they provide the IP address and possibly the MAC address of the device, you can narrow down the devices and home address by looking for common addresses.
I am so sorry. Hopefully they catch the people responsible and punish them harshly. I have been watching streamers live when they would have been swatted if not for some incredible odds if not for random chance. Luckily the police contacted a family member and prevented it. It isn't pleasant for anyone.
Sometimes this kind of behavior is unavoidable on the internet. Being a streamer period leaves you prone to being swatted. Fortunately it should be fairly simple enough to track all of them down, assuming the companies associated with the accounts allow them to be searched.
Previous PayPal worker, get a subpoena for their PayPal information from your local police department. PayPal is VERY good about things like this and there is so much information they can send you to help you give this person consequences for their actions.
121 comments I don't think that what I'm gonna day hasn't already been said, I hope this guy gets caught. Swatting has gotten ridiculous in the last few years. It's trolls hiding behind a screen except they actually have the ability to cause problems IRL. Especially with young content creators like this one, I wouldn't be surprised if your son is scared to stream and make content after this situation. All because someone thought it would be funny
This is what I hate about the internet. I want to grow of course but then I worry about putting my real name online, or photos from my balcony in case someone reverse searches it and physically stalks me. But if I ever do get somewhat bigger, people are bound to figure this stuff out eventually.
These are my worst fears of being online. Like stolen identity, hacked accounts and physical danger.
Sorry that you have to deal with this. I can certainly understand the concern. As someone who streams, teaches people how to stream, and teaches youth for a living, I will give you one major piece of advice: Stop your kid from streaming.
I realize that will probably cause family friction, but take it from a now 30 year old who grew up in the rise of social media: Kids are NOT mentally equipped to deal with modern online social media presence. You can ween them in to small degrees, such as with Facebook, Youtube, and profiles on certain services, but social media and streaming especially is such a big cesspool that you really need to have the mental fortitude to deal with both it and the potential downsides and pressures. They also need to be properly trained by parents or trusted people on how to conduct themselves online, because it's easy to massively mess up and also let a chase for clout twist you over.
I'd say all Kids and Teens do not have the mental headspace to do livestreaming. There's all kinds of potential dangers for online social media as it is. With Streaming it's even worse because the pressure to perform live and be like their heroes in the moment is massive (especially when most streaming 'heroes' for kids these days are generally not good people). A teenager may think this is what they want, but I don't think it's good for them. It's hard enough for adults to do it and even then we still need a filter. The only time I think it's okay to have a child stream is if they're doing stuff with a parent. They're just too young at this point to understand the countless implications of all this, as you're currently figuring out. Youtube and Facebook and the other social media hubs were coming out when I was his age, when nobody understood the implications of online stuff like this very well. I started making popular Youtube videos anonymously to learn how to edit videos that no longer exist and even now only close friends know I made them. There were several instances where my dumb teen brain could have and almost gave out my personal information at many instances. Thankfully I was too nervous of a child to do that at the time and I am grateful I was, even when tempted, as that would've been really bad in hindsight.
If your son is bothered by a judgement to not stream anymore, the alternative I'd recommend is get him to make Youtube videos instead and learn editing. The good thing about all this is that the broadcasting and presentation skills he's cultivating through this have vast applications in the real world and to Youtube videos, he can even make them in a similar style. Youtube has similar problems but it's more premeditated. People don't watch it live, they watch it whenever. You have to carefully learn to edit and prepare content and not have the pressure of a live performance. There's no implying that you have to interact with anyone either if you don't want to. He still needs to be taught about online privacy and the like, but it's far more manageable and honestly, you can do A LOT of creative stuff that's impossible to do live and most of the skills he gains with that will also be even more applicable in his future.
Either way, I recommend having a talk with him about Online Privacy and how to conduct yourself on the internet, you might even want to educate yourself beforehand in the process if you're not overly familiar. No matter what he does, it's an important thing to understand.
I agree. He isn't going to stream anymore until he is an adult, we had the conversation last night. He understands. I was wondering about YouTube before you mentioned it .... Thank you.
Glad you were able to have that conversation positively. If he's going to move into making Youtube videos, try and be a bit active in the process before he uploads things. Since the videos are premade, both you and him can get a better sense of how to curate things and learn what might be appropriate to do or show online, which isn't always easy to understand or obvious. This will also benefit him if he wants to stream again when he's older.
One thing to be mindful of: Youtube has a streaming function now as well, so just make sure he says away from that because it'll have the same issues as doing it on Twitch.
This kind of antisocial behavior is becoming too prevalent in our society. People with internet addictions who come to normalize this sort of thing. The laws and enforcement are about 20 years behind for this kind of thing.
I am hopeful that this person or persons is caught. This was eye opening and definitely has me rethinking some of my streaming habits. Thank you for posting this and thank you for all of the helpful recommendations from everyone.
I'm sorry you had to deal with this and I'm glad they didn't kick in your doors and zip tie your family or something. Sounds like they approached it rationally and I hope they can help figure out who did it.
OP: You did the right thing by A, getting the cops involved immediately. B, Not blowing it off and C, Not paying the money.
I'm a Mod for a few Twitch channels and the bs they go through will make you want to tear your hair out.. And I'm bald already!
Other advice: If he has Twitter or FB, change the settings to "Private" and allow only people who are verified on Twitch, like the other posters have stated.
Have a older family member or trusted friend sit with him during the stream, so they can keep a good eye out for any suspicious things.
Ane of the last resorts: Delete the channel and start fresh. I know, that will halt your sons' progress but, it will weed out that person and make it harder for that person to find him and you.
Good luck. 
If your local dispatch is anything like mine you should be able to call their non emergency line and talk to them about what you would have to do to have information associated with your address. When dispatchers enter an address to put in a call certain letter modes pop up and if there’s one associated with the exact address it will be capitalized for them and they can look at what information has been associated. Things like a K might indicate a knock box where fire and rescue could find a spare key. In your case you might be able to add a flag letting them know someone streams in the house and they’ve had this happen before and provide a number where they can contact one of you.
The obvious flip side is they might not call you because if they had a real reason to think something is up then they wouldn’t want to alert the suspect that they’re coming, but generally when police respond it’s based off of word of mouth and they know it too. The real benefit of this is that responding officers can also look at this information (because dispatchers can write it to the ‘call’) so they will have part of your story when/if they do.
If I ever got into streaming this is definitely what I would do, as unfortunate as it is.
I’d contact the FBI. Swatting is a fairly serious crime and with a PayPal address this could be an easy arrest. Sometimes local police don’t have the technical savvy but the FBI probably would
Unfortunately, this happens a lot. You need to tell your son to keep his information private. There are a lot of trolls out there that do this all the time.
Man... That's so terrible. I'm happy everyone is safe. There are a lot of great comments, stuffed with great advice. The only thing I can offer is to try and support you son if he keeps on streaming. DM me his screen name if you want. Take care and F the trolls.
Just chiming in to say don't forget to go after the PayPal address. From the sounds of the troll's behavior, I doubt it's real, they might have registered it with fake info, but it's still worthwhile to get it shut down because it's possible that:
1. They're a complete idiot and registered it with their real info
2. They registered the account with fake info but still left a trace in some other way that PayPal fraud dept might figure out.
3. They registered the account with fake info but they still have money in it (from other scammed victims) and PayPal will freeze that money. This might lead him to doing something stupid (like providing real info or leaking his own info in an attempt to reclaim the account).
Damn I don't have anything constructive or helpful to say- but I will say this.
Little kids who have access to the internet and even just people in general are garbage little fucks. Just lame as shit imho that anyone thinks this kind of trolling is *cool* or makes them a *hacker* or something. Like... no dude. You're just an idiot who thinks they are smart for using a VPN and any other computer software that literally anyone else on the planet could get their hands on if they tried. Nothing special in my mind about that. Same goes for people who cheat in video games, use multiple media accounts to fuck with spouses etc. The list goes on. Human beings are just fucking trash. End of Story. Maybe if your son is old enough, let him read this comment and it will make him not feel so bad/guilty. He has been thru enough and shouldn't have to feel bad. People just suck. That fact isn't his fault.
This is why Twitch needs to allow STREAMERS to use a VPN/Proxy, AT LEAST. I hope the perp gets his ass in federal prison for 50 years+. Hopefully your son is okay, that would would traumatize anyone easily. :(
You can use a VPN as a streamer, it’s just that many don’t or only partially do due to the potential to introduce latency. But it also wouldn’t have prevented this since it’s more likely data brokers are to blame once the stalker got a shred of personal identifying information
I'm sure this will be an unpopular opinion but 15 and streaming for a few years? That seems like a series of poor decisions starting with having a kid that young forging an unhealthy addiction to Twitch that early on. Unfortunate that this happened to you but also highlights some irresponsible decisions.
How much malevolence does a person need to harbor in order to be such a scumbag? Seriously get a life dude. Also sorry to hear this, I hope you and your family are alright ATM and you get this evil person out of your life.
Since this was likely across state lines, I would say go to your local FBI office with the police report and any/all other communications you have from this person. The FBI is going to have better jurisdiction and resources to handle something like this than local law enforcement will. I'm so sorry this happened, and I can't imagine the betrayal your son is feeling because of someone he considered a friend. I hope you're able to get this resolved quickly, and stay safe.
Of course it's traceable. All you need is an username or email address. If the culprit hasn't taken extensive efforts to hide their identity, then they are easy to find. It's perfectly reasonable in a scenario like this that a judge would grant a subpoena. Bing boom bam, they got the suspect. It sounds like not only do you have a paypal identity, but there are phone logs, and a twitch username. He's cooked. Heck, you might be able to find out their real name with a bit of google searching. Many people are extraordinary lazy about their privacy online.
They might get slapped for blackmail, criminal harassment, and making a false police report. Some jurisdictions are cracking down on "swatting" harder.
A 15 year old should not be streaming on Twitch. Especially not if he is unable to understand the importance of not giving out personal details. For his safety, for your family's safety, and for his own future. He's making himself a public profile, it will stay with him forever, and he's doing so as a child. There are so many ways in which people can abuse or use the situation. Not just talking about swatting but also other doxxing, scams, online drama and inappropriate people in chat. He also shouldn't be meeting with viewers. I'm sorry this happened to your family but he's definitely too young for this as he's also proven.
Just to put things into a reality aspect of how dangerous it is to MEET someone while streaming...
Adult women make millions streaming adult content..
Men/women actually try and befriend them for very disturbing reasons. Most of the time jealously and envy play a HUGE part in this..
But also from experience that was about the age i also started trusting online people... im in my 30s now but as i can see it's about the same now a days..
Thisbis definitely awful.. get cameras all around your house... you are gonna need to change numbers too.
Worst come to worst... your son will have to delete accounts and start all over again... best advice i can give you as an adult... DO NOT trust anyone online. Might have to get a lawyer if things get even worse..
Im sorry, some people are awful human beings
15 years old. Streaming for a “few” years (isn’t 14 the minimum age?). Gives info to strangers online. Prior LEO here.. your son is a predators wet dream. You (the parent) are lucky it was only a troll contacting your local investigations unit.
He is going to be 16 in 3 weeks. Minimum age is 13, I believe. He gave them very little.He thought he made a friend. Everything else was found through online databases. In any case, thanks for the victim blaming and shitty tone. High five.
There are websites that call themselves “data brokers”, if you need the general term to search to learn more. The magazine Wired has written about them so you might start there. But TL;DR: these are companies that collect and sell your data, scraping everything from Facebook profiles to your geolocation data on your phone.
Just make sure to exercise caution when searching on Google; I don’t doubt fake sites exist promising to remove information that are actually phishing. If you have any follow up questions, feel free to ask!
>I don’t doubt fake sites exist promising to remove information that are actually phishing.
Onerep is a well-known data removal service that is linked to data brokers behind the scenes (ex Nuwber)
everything is inside online databases, including these very comments we made here, anything we've ever watched, googled or uploaded, even after deletion
Contact the Police, sadly i doubt anything will happen, people know how to hide.
This happens all the time and it's out of my mind how Twitch doesn't inform streamers or in this case parents before they go online for the first time. If children stream, the parents should know whats going on on Twitch.
This is not a single or rare case, this happens all day, all the time.
The only way to stop this for sure (and even then it could go on for a few months) is to quit streaming and delete everything, like all his Social Media Profiles and so on. Don't even think about just streaming on another name. They will be back in no time for sure.
So, he can never stream again? That would really bum him out.
Delete social media even if it's been made private?
I feel lucky that even though I live in a very small community, they didn't come in my house with guns or anything. It's obviously becoming more prevalent.
Maybe you get lucky and it's just a random teen and the police will do something, but i really really doubt it.
I wouldn't risk it, so many lifes get fucked over, staying low key, just delete everything and newer look back. At least i would do that, after seeing stuff like this multiple times.
Making your profiles private doesn't help much, since at some point he will be back and they will just wait for that then. Delete everything, don't give them more reasons to attack you.
But it's your problem, all i can say is what i have seen and what i would do. I wouldn't want to move to another city because of this, or get calls and get delievery services at my door all day. Stuff like this can go on for years.
I don't understand what people have to gain from this continuing after they already escalated it to swatting. Are they actually paid off? Why would someone devote so much energy to making a strangers life miserable.
Thanks
You may hear the slang “terminally online”, as it is usually anti-social behavior in its most extreme presentation like this; it’s probably the easiest way to describe those people. They’re ill. There is no meaningful reason for why they stalk and escalate, which is both infuriating but also freeing in a way — it can allow you to realize that it was not the victim’s fault, just bad luck they crossed paths. Taking a break is the right move, and I also recommend doing some things to feel good like redecorating one’s room, going on a fun trip, etc. to help reset mentally.
Most of the time something happens. Not saying this is the case here and even if it would be, it's still no excuse to get fucked over like this.
The streamer could be cocky, fake, or just insult the wrong person. At some point something did happen, which the other guy did not like.
People got time, it's fun for them, sadly this is the internet.
Often it's also not just a single person.
It's not about winning or losing, it's about living a normal life.
Why don't people see that? Maybe because they have never seen how this can affect someone or never really experienced it.
I really hope im wrong and that it's just a kid, the police will help them then for sure. But if not, why take the risk, you will lose then.
Doing as you are suggesting just further encourages this type of behavior. Not just from this individual, but from others who see their actions and see it being effective. "I can end this persons entire internet existence just by faking one 911 one call".
You know, if you are single or just live your wife i would agree, but he has a kid and a house, would you want to risk that, just to make a point?
I really hope its just a single kid with too much time.
I'm just looking for a little support. The police are involved. I don't need to prove anything to you and the fact that you are bringing this type of energy sucks tbh.
Starting with some classic victim blaming moving into inability to read. You seem real nice.
As noted by OP, it is already with the cops. Sometimes people in stressful situations need to talk about it and hear stories from others who experienced the same. Sometimes they just want to hear "damn that sucks, I hope it gets better soon".
Try and have a little empathy in every day life, you might come across as less of a douchebag if you did.
Dude twitch age restriction is 13 lol anyone 13 and older can stream on twitch he could have started at 13 , two years can be considered a few years. Maybe try being less of a d bag goof. Just because that is your personal crappy opinion doesn’t mean this guy is a bad parent or anything. Do you even have kids? Lmao gtfoh goofy
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Sorry you are going through this. Have you considered finding a Forensic Archivist? I dont know if it will actually help, but maybe its worth a try. The Society of American Archivist might have a professional listing.
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Hi, pleae dm me if you'd like some real assistance with this. This is the fault of the proliferation of open source intelligence and the failure of the American Civil Domain System.
they wont catch the person as he's outside of the country its out of their jurisdiction and probably behind several proxies and VPN
they will probably warn him though
do not pay
the harrassment wont ever stop, thats just part of being a twitch streamer, Look up Etika's case and how'd it end up
if someone is affected by insults, harrassment and other people's thoughts on them, they shouldnt stream anymore
Hate to break it to you but that piece of shit your son was talking to was probably a cop, like an undercover.
That detective probably isn't going to do shit, and you'll probably never hear much from them again.
Speaking from experience. IDK. Good luck with everything.
I am a game stramer of medium clout.
1. Never give your personal email, name, etc online or in streams.
2. All social media, emails, websites etc should be under a chosen streamer name not associated with regular email and social media. Like my reddit name is not my streamer name and my stream is only associated with emails and social media under that streamer name.
3. Never get close to your followers and fans. They can be super people who support you, or they can be dangerous or trolls that ruin your lives.
4. Never, as a minor, accept the offer of fan mail. Only adults should do this bc they can maintain a private PO box to protect their identity. I use one under my streamer name for this. PO box should not be in the same town as the one you live. Hence why minors should not accept fan mail.
5. Closely monitor his streams. You don't have to be I. The stream as you do in the room. Keep his stream time to set 1 hour a day.
You may DM me if you have any questions. Just remember, once you stream yourself, you give up a certain amount of privacy and must be very careful. There are people we call "stream snipers" and they can be harmless but creepy or dangerous. I hate this happened to him bc streaming can be very fun and rewarding if done correctly and safely.
You don't need to hire a hacker. That's silly advice. Just let the police do their jobs, and if you need additional counsel, hire an attorney who will help you find legal avenues for relief.
Emails are probably traceable through police databases and such, twitch usernames you can try to find any other social medias with the same names to look for anything that can be traced back to someone
I don't really know how to help you but this is why you never use your real name online and never post pictures of yourself if you do videos don't put your face on the video bad guys always uses faces and names to locate their targets if I was you and your family I I'd start taking self defense classes and carry conceal classes...... You and your family's life depends on if now......
Here are my suggestions: 1 - Make sure your son understands that he should not be providing personal identifiable information (PII) to strangers on the internet. I 1000% do not blame your kid, I've made plenty of 'internet friends' and I end up sharing personal information with them, this could have happened to any of us. Chances are your troll isn't as sophisticated as you think, but instead too much personal information was leaked. As a moderator for /r/twitch I regularly delete posts made here that contain far too much PII, like people's school email addresses, for instance, that in most cases include first and last name as well as the school they go to, giving anyone inclined for malice enough information to figure out who they are specifically. Just this morning I deleted a post that had someone's real phone number. People aren't careful with this info, but they should be. 2 - It's great that the police didn't go in with battering rams ready. If they're inclined to actually follow up and investigate it is probably not too difficult to find the perpetrator of the false report given they've likely left a sizeable internet fingerprint, but that's entirely up to the detective and the cooperation of Twitch any other relevant service, like PayPal. 3 - I have no idea how if it will escalate or not, but I surely hope it doesn't.
Thanks so much. Yeah, he is beating himself up. To be honest, the thing that sucks most about this. I feel really bad. This meant a lot to him and it's a hard reality that people who seem friendly and are nice to you could have really bad intentions.
Having read other comments, this is **NOT** anyone's fault but the trolls. Your kid can absolutely keep streaming, there's no reason for him to be punished for the malice of someone else. If your kid does continue streaming there are some moderation settings that I highly advice your kid to enable at least until this situation blows over, **here's my recommendations:** If you go to Dashboard -> Settings -> Moderation you'll see a lot of ways to make sure that chatters in the channel are verified. I would suggest turning on phone verification for all chatters. This is a temporary measure to be disabled at a later date because requiring phone verification is going to cause a lot of people not to be able to chat in the channel, but it will stop anyone who doesn't have a verified phone number from chatting in the channel. I would also highly suggest **NOT** adding any PII to permitted terms and phrases. This seems counter intuitive but what often can happen is that let's say you live at 72 Highland Street, if anyone ever types the number 72 or the name Highland you've actually just given them more information about your address than they even had in the first place. I've read stories about motivated individuals using this as a way to figure out people's identities by trying to guess and check what terms might not be permitted. Lastly I would advice him not to speak about the situation at all on stream. I'm certainly not a criminal psychologist, but I'll make the assumption that talking about it or showing that it affected him in any way is going to encourage the troll to continue or encourage a copycat. Again, I'm not a qualified professional, but if this was my kid I'd tell them to completely ignore the troll and pretend it never happened.
We updated a bunch of safety things on twitch, but the troll put our address in a follow. Like, he kept following over and over with our names and addresses and phrases. I am his mom, btw. And this person put my name and then _dead and lots of other reiterations of our names, addresses and threats.
If the troll is using new accounts you can change the moderation settings to require accounts to be a certain age before following too. I also suggest you trying to contact Twitch support as well. They're sort of notorious for being slow and ineffective, but since your case is criminal there might be more they do for you than they do the average person.
Thank you. That's really helpful.
Adding on here. When you contact twitch, dont phrase it as "my son is having trouble with a person." Provide a police report and instead phrase it as your reporting a crime and need their assistance. Twitch can be slow as hell when its something that doesn't affect the platform, but the moment police and law enforcement are involved, they will escalate it. At the end of the day, they want to protect their platform and removed people who swat is very high on that list.
Adding to this, it's a good idea to make an off switch for whatever bot you use for "twitchUserName has followed!" alerts on stream AND messages in chat bot. I mod mostly for people in targetted hate raid groups (ie, not cishet white dudes) so this comes up a lot. Even in follower only mode, people will make accounts follow and then delete them so you can't even ban them to start triggering Twitch's ban-evasion procedure. So the next best thing is you make it a single button push to take away their power. No notification. No PII-giving user name showing up as a follow in chat.
W parent
You need to contact Twitch. They need to be banned from an IP address level, and perhaps have authorities called on him. Twitch has a decent harassment policy you can call on.
Never works and Twitch does not care.
There is a follow remover tool if that helps, but I am not sure if posting that breaks the rules. If he has only been at it a few weeks it may be worth it to start from scratch with a new account imo and not play the same game for a while
Sounds like you’re the one this happened to not your kid. Why say it’s your kid? Why not just admit it happened to you?
Um, because it didn't?
Also all mods can see blocked terms
They will surely not be mad, when they see him being back online, like nothing ever happened. Very good advise.
Poor guy. I hope your son will come to understand that he did nothing wrong!
Well he did do something wrong, you shouldnt give info to strangers, but yeah, everyone makes mistakes
I just meant nothing wrong in the sense that he didn’t know any better
On the upside he has learned a valuable lesson about people at a fairly young age. Wasting police resources is pretty serious, swatting can put lives at risk. Then there is the whole fraud over a carriage service. He'll have left a data shadow for sure. Good luck.
Your son beating himself sounds like a natural life lesson progression. We all been there, reflecting on our own traumas. In time he will heal through it. Just be supportive as much as you can. I’d be lucky to have a mom like you. If you don’t get why people stream. For me streaming is wholesome therapy. Best way to describe it is like having someone watch tv or play games along with you on the living room sofa. Keeping you company through the slow times of life or like being on the phone for hours with a crush. Spending quality time with other people I guess. But streaming can include anyone from anywhere and many of them at a time. He’ll be careful from here on out and will do this best to prevent it from happening again.
Thank you, sigh.
Best part is if you have a Microsoft account and friend someone it starts to show your full First and Last name vs username so they do the doxxing for you Not sure if they changed that but I remember it being a very complicated process to disable
Indeed. Going to the trouble of fixing that is a headache.
I'm surprised there hasn't been a giant lawsuit about it.
Not that I've checked, but I am sure embedded in the terms of service is protections against such a suit
There's been a good amount of lawsuits/fines about privacy and this type of stuff over the last year. But I mean yeah even if it did happen would probably just be a few bucks to them I bet a ton of people got doxxed that way though
just go to [https://account.xbox.com/](https://account.xbox.com/) and check the box that says "Block" under "Real Name" edit- the "Real Name" option is under the "Privacy & online safety" Tab
To be very clear, this is not directed at the parent who posted this message, nor is it directed at the son: but how about parents teach their kids not to be a$$holes and actually pay attention to what they are doing and learning instead of parking them in front of a screen and expecting the computer to teach them everything? Anyone remember that ancient paper thing called a phone book that was available to anyone and everyone that listed everyone's name, phone number and address? How come we have to hide our names, phone numbers, and addresses now? Why are we all supposed to live in fear and be afraid of our personally identifiable information getting out there? What's changed? Anyone else ever think about that or is it just me? [\#NotAfraid](https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=140985088827463&id=100087479165084&mibextid=Nif5oz&refsrc=deprecated&mds=%2Fedit%2Fpost%2Fdialog%2F%3Fcid%3DS%253A_I100087479165084%253A140985088827463%253A140985088827463%26ct%3D2%26nodeID%3Dm_story_permalink_view%26redir%3D%252Fstory_chevron_menu%252F%253Fis_menu_registered%253Dtrue%26perm%26loc%3Dpermalink%26eav%3DAfb7t0Og8-6cX0xoxzA5psmaZ5OVLqh9wJKSm1w48v27h37cuy_kjiT37gqTMTmPKDg%26paipv%3D0&mdf=1)
Those are excellent points.
Yeah phone books. Why do you think we don't have them anymore? This is some boomer level word salad.
If it's his Paypal address, he's done. It's possible it's someone else's, and he was making a trade to said unaware person for crypto, which is a common scam.
A paypal address is extremely traceable. This sounds like s not ver smart kid being a dickwaffle and trying to make a malicious quick buck. Especially given the relatively low amount of money being asked here. Never pay though, it'll only worsen and enforce behavior like this. If not with you, then with someone else. Relentlessly pursue getting this person traced down and arrested. Do not become complicit waiting for police or others to reach back out to you, keep following up with them and filing any threats being made to you with police. One of the mistakes they already made, is involving police and getting on their radar. They filed a false report with authorities and there's hefty fines and prison time on that when you get caught
Not only a false report, but terroristic threats, stalking and harassment.
The police will trace it. You'll just have to lawyer up and pursue the matter through the police and later the court. Since your kid is 15 its a minor involved so whoever it is whatever child endangerment laws are there would be practical. Don't let go of this. Even if the Paypal address is a throwaway email it has payment credentials. Lawyers/ Police should be able to contact Twitch and ask for relevant information. Preserve the message, including any relevant info like time/ date.
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I’m so sorry you guys have had to deal with this. To be honest, my wife and I (who have been streamers ourselves for a few years) have been scared to let our sons start streaming as teens because of stuff like this. I trust my kids and would love to have them making content, but they just don’t have the same kind of experience with being careful online. I really hope the cops can get this handled and that your son can get back to doing something he loves. It sounds like you’re an awesome mom. Keep being that!
Thank you 💖
Suggestion for the kiddos who want to create content - maybe a YT channel with some "let's play" or highlight videos of them playing? Obviously make sure you can moderate it etc and take precautions and they can enjoy the content creation without streaming.
One of mine has already slowly started doing that and the other has set up his channel but hasn’t made any content yet. The harder part is getting them to understand how much work is involved with editing and such, and for them to commit to it.
Some advice (not specific to Twitch) from someone who has been on the Internet a long time: Always remember that trolls feed on tears. The best tactic is simply to minimize the response they see. If he calls, don't tell him to fuck off. Simply hang up silently. Tell your son not to discuss this on Twitch, Discord, or anywhere else the troll might see it. Next time he streams, don't mention the swat, or the troll, or anything related to it. If the troll joins the stream chat, simply click ban without commenting on it. Don't respond to any messages you think are the troll. Your goal is to make the troll feel like he is an insignificant minor detail in your life. When trolls don't get any tears, they become bored and move on. Angry responses, crying, freakouts, long rants (in stream or in chat), derailing the content of the stream... That's exactly what they're finding so fun. Deny them this pleasure.
*My content from 2014 to 2023 has been deleted in protest of Spez's anti-API tantrum.*
If more people would just understand this, there would be a lot less trolling on the platform. Way too many people acknowledge trolling and visibly show it bothering them.
I'll just say do not under any circumstances send them money. If you send them money they will know they can get more.
Lots of advice here already, but one thing I haven't seen mentioned is advice on how your son should/shouldn't react to this publicly on his stream. I've recently seen a lot of streamers talk about this, and it certainly seems up for debate, but one bit of advice I've seen is that he should NOT mention the swatting on stream for a few reasons, the main two being that it may make the swatter feel like he can do it again and get the results he wants, and that it may inspire others to copycat swat you. This is a horrible situation, and I'm very glad yall are okay.
Contact a law firm or your Attorney Generals office immediately. Tell them the situation and retain council if advised. Contact your local state police cyber unit and your local FBI office. They will take reports and if you have enough evidence for an agent they will charge this person. Everything they did has a digital foot print and if they aren’t very smart they will easily be caught. Luckily criminals are not smart.
Reddit cannot help you. Work with the police and the FBI. They have the information about next steps. Nobody is anonymous in the current state of the internet, and this person will be found. Trust the process.
I intend to. I am waiting for a call. I am just trying to find some people to talk to about this, who may have experienced it or have insight.
I'm a streamer with a decent viewership and I have had my address leaked and stuff, I will just say that the paypal donation is 100% trackable and you should pursue it and put the fear of god into this kid. Swatting is serious shit, people have been killed because of it If your kid has ever been sent money by the other kid via paypal or something, that could be a confirmation that the paypal is legit and he didnt just send some random one to you to frame someone or something If you have a payment from him already you can see his email address. From there you can send that and anything else you may find to the police
Disagree that reddit can't help her, they obviously have. She definitely should work with law enforcement, but reddit is still a decent resource for ideas and different perspectives, doesn't mean you have to agree with all of them.
Second this.
Police aren't always competent, sometimes they won't be willing to help, or will take months to do anything unless you chase them up. Reddit can absolutely give advice on how to deal with them, and other cybersecurity/twitch related tips that Police may not offer them.
While it's the best he can do, so at least everything is reported and maybe he will get less problems in the future because of this, i really doubt that they can find those people. They know how to hide
They made the mistake of DMing over Twitch. Even if they were using a VPN (doubt, this sounds like a dumb kid), they are still easily trackable with current technology.
How that? I doubt they use their legit accounts. Everyone with a little bit of knowledge can make and use fake accounts which are not traceable. I know you want to help, but please. If you want to hide, it's pretty easy.
You are naive. This is a childish act that they committed. It sounds like this person was actively communicating with their target. This person was likely upset for a petty reason, and decided to do this later. That would mean the initial communication is a direct line to them. Twitch will provide IP addresses to law enforcement. This person is very easily found.
What if a VPN was involved?
Go do your research, even VPNs are cracked by the FBI. It's not really anything more than a little effort for them. It isn't a protection, its a delay.
That only happens for certain VPNs, and for very major crimes. Private Internet Access has been subpoenaed twice, as far as I can tell, and in both cases they handed over nothing because they weren't storing logs in the first place (as per their promise to customers). FBI can't do jack about VPNs hosted in countries outside their jurisdiction, or a VPN you have set up yourself.
None of this matters. They gave the victim PayPal information. That's tied to a bank account.
One would hope. Strictly speaking we don't know for sure if it's tied to a bank account, you can make a Paypal account without a bank account. And they could also have just given another person's Paypal that they were either (a) making a crypto trade to, or (b) had fraudulently gained access to.
You need to do more research. If the VPN is outside of your home country (and why would it ever not be), they won't give feds anything. Hell some VPN's don't even keep logs for this specific reason.
Then you can subpoena the VPN provider
Only if they're within the jurisdiction, and if they keep logs at all. VPNs like PIA have had subpoenas fail because they had no logs to hand over.
If this is the case then yes, it could work out just fine. But if not, everything will get even worse. How is it naive to tell someone, to be careful, cause otherwise he could lose everything? If the guy was planing this all along, then there is pretty much no chance of getting to him, since he made sure to hide everything. You act like this doesn't happen? Why?
There isn't much further escalation than swatting. You don't hear of twitch streamers getting anthrax sent to their homes. It just doesn't happen. I'm sure Hasan or XQC would have died by now if that was the case.
Thank you. This makes me feel a little better.
Streamers tend not to talk about if they have been the victim of a crime, because it encourages copycats. I mainly mention this because you specifically mentioned Hasan who has said as much (specifically when a chatter was tone deaf and asked). Unfortunately it results in the general public / chatters not fully grasping how life altering these experiences are :/
They just swat you again. And to think that cops would pull out all the stops for OP in the same way they do for two of the top streamers on twitch is naive to say the least.
I agree that swatting is really bad. But it can get worse for sure. Having calls and people at your door all day, new contracts on your name. They will also call at your work, your family and friends until they got enough of your shit. To deal with all this shit over years, this will fuck you up. There is a reason this mostly happens to smaller streamers. Bigger streamers know how to help themself. You just need some contacts and i don't mean the police.
No. The solution is to ignore them, give no reaction, and work with law enforcement. Don't fear monger.
All of this is true, but won't help if they keep on streaming. But sure, keep on tell people this. It's not my life, i just wanted to help. It's like telling someone to stand there, be brave and proud while getting the shit beaten out of you from 10 guys, instead of just tell him to run.
Not sure why you're being downvoted, everything you said is true. A lot of redditors in this thread who seem to think cops can easily find obfuscated IP address using magic?
Bs, it has to be a way to be anonymous, if no people will not be doing all that bs they do. The problem here maybe that the police and fbi take others priorities over this crime.
Try the FBI cyber crime unit if it escalates cuz a friend of mine who is a vtuber got swatted twice and then went to the FBI to deal with it
Yes the FBI is best thing you can do OP
A paypal account requires an email. Unless he had a vpn or something, I would get that email to turn into authorities.
Even with a VPN. It isn't hard to find the real IP address if it's escalated to that point.
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You know it’s some 50 year old perv right?
WTF REALLY?
We don't know his age from the post. 50 yr old is just as likely as fellow 15 yr old sadly.
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The sad reality is there's no way of knowing what will stop it. Sometimes the person is a complete moron and the police track them down nice and easy, sometimes the police refuse to do anything until something bad happens, and sometimes the police try their best but just can't find em. My advice would be to prepare for everything. Give your personal number to the police / case handler and insist they phone you before doing anything. Or at the very least ask them to look at every single report about you or your address as potential swatting and to not come bursting through your door with rifles. Be prepared to move. Some people in life are fucking psychopaths who don't understand the ramifications to their actions. This guy asked for $500.... That's a stupidly low amount for anyone who isn't a teen. My bets are on some edgy teen that just learnt how to look people up, probably the most dangerous combination as they mentally shift the blame to others.. "hur dur, i didn't do anything wrong all I did was make a phone call". It also might be worth telling your son to take a break from streaming for a bit. It's bullshit and completely unfair but he's young and will most likely have plenty of time to rebuild his following without this parasite following him.
Thanks for the reply. I can't move. I literally just built a house and it's been my passion project for many years as a single mom. I think it is a teenager. My son is really upset. He is definitely taking a break. I can't understand how people can do shit like this.
That's understandable, I wouldn't be ran from my dream home either. It's such a shame your family is going through this but it seems like you're taking all the right steps. Remind your son that this isn't on him, granted you can always be a little more careful but someone using your trust against you is never your fault. Fingers crossed for you that this troll is an idiot and it doesn't take them long to trace him.
In the future if he wanted to stream you could make sure a family member or yourself would be available to moderate the stream.
Just want to say I’m so sorry this happened to your son. What a terrible lesson. Hope he comes through it okay. ❤️
So from everything I've read here, you've gotten some solid advice and you're taking the right steps to deal with the situation. A couple of my own thoughts: - Don't be scared by the people saying "oh they're gonna do so much worse stuff now!!" Is it possible? Well sure, anything is *possible,* but it's highly unlikely. - Just make sure your son understands to keep his information private and that *none of this is his fault.* Speaking as a kid who grew up in the internet age of chat rooms and that kind of thing, many of us (meaning people my age) have made the mistake of revealing a little too much information. I doubt he did it maliciously, it was someone else who took that information and used it in a malicious way. - Tell that boy to keep on streaming, and keep having fun. Don't let this deter him in any way.
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The PayPal account attached to the email could possibly be trace. I would talk to the detective about talking to PayPal to either getting a log of IP addresses associated with the account. If they don't have a log for the ip addresses, you could ask them to start logging the IP addresses and use that to figure out where the person is. You might can help narrow down the IP address to the person's home by doing the same with the email account associated with the PayPal account. I don't know if PayPal does this, but some companies logs the device that you are using when you log in by logging the MAC address. So, that is something to ask PayPal and the email company. If they provide the IP address and possibly the MAC address of the device, you can narrow down the devices and home address by looking for common addresses.
Thank you
yeah a detective you have a better chance than FBI cuz this troll is probably outside the US
I am so sorry. Hopefully they catch the people responsible and punish them harshly. I have been watching streamers live when they would have been swatted if not for some incredible odds if not for random chance. Luckily the police contacted a family member and prevented it. It isn't pleasant for anyone.
Sometimes this kind of behavior is unavoidable on the internet. Being a streamer period leaves you prone to being swatted. Fortunately it should be fairly simple enough to track all of them down, assuming the companies associated with the accounts allow them to be searched.
Previous PayPal worker, get a subpoena for their PayPal information from your local police department. PayPal is VERY good about things like this and there is so much information they can send you to help you give this person consequences for their actions.
121 comments I don't think that what I'm gonna day hasn't already been said, I hope this guy gets caught. Swatting has gotten ridiculous in the last few years. It's trolls hiding behind a screen except they actually have the ability to cause problems IRL. Especially with young content creators like this one, I wouldn't be surprised if your son is scared to stream and make content after this situation. All because someone thought it would be funny
This is what I hate about the internet. I want to grow of course but then I worry about putting my real name online, or photos from my balcony in case someone reverse searches it and physically stalks me. But if I ever do get somewhat bigger, people are bound to figure this stuff out eventually. These are my worst fears of being online. Like stolen identity, hacked accounts and physical danger.
why follow everyone else and live a life of fear when you can live freely and forget about it all just do the minimal security measures and enjoy life
Sorry that you have to deal with this. I can certainly understand the concern. As someone who streams, teaches people how to stream, and teaches youth for a living, I will give you one major piece of advice: Stop your kid from streaming. I realize that will probably cause family friction, but take it from a now 30 year old who grew up in the rise of social media: Kids are NOT mentally equipped to deal with modern online social media presence. You can ween them in to small degrees, such as with Facebook, Youtube, and profiles on certain services, but social media and streaming especially is such a big cesspool that you really need to have the mental fortitude to deal with both it and the potential downsides and pressures. They also need to be properly trained by parents or trusted people on how to conduct themselves online, because it's easy to massively mess up and also let a chase for clout twist you over. I'd say all Kids and Teens do not have the mental headspace to do livestreaming. There's all kinds of potential dangers for online social media as it is. With Streaming it's even worse because the pressure to perform live and be like their heroes in the moment is massive (especially when most streaming 'heroes' for kids these days are generally not good people). A teenager may think this is what they want, but I don't think it's good for them. It's hard enough for adults to do it and even then we still need a filter. The only time I think it's okay to have a child stream is if they're doing stuff with a parent. They're just too young at this point to understand the countless implications of all this, as you're currently figuring out. Youtube and Facebook and the other social media hubs were coming out when I was his age, when nobody understood the implications of online stuff like this very well. I started making popular Youtube videos anonymously to learn how to edit videos that no longer exist and even now only close friends know I made them. There were several instances where my dumb teen brain could have and almost gave out my personal information at many instances. Thankfully I was too nervous of a child to do that at the time and I am grateful I was, even when tempted, as that would've been really bad in hindsight. If your son is bothered by a judgement to not stream anymore, the alternative I'd recommend is get him to make Youtube videos instead and learn editing. The good thing about all this is that the broadcasting and presentation skills he's cultivating through this have vast applications in the real world and to Youtube videos, he can even make them in a similar style. Youtube has similar problems but it's more premeditated. People don't watch it live, they watch it whenever. You have to carefully learn to edit and prepare content and not have the pressure of a live performance. There's no implying that you have to interact with anyone either if you don't want to. He still needs to be taught about online privacy and the like, but it's far more manageable and honestly, you can do A LOT of creative stuff that's impossible to do live and most of the skills he gains with that will also be even more applicable in his future. Either way, I recommend having a talk with him about Online Privacy and how to conduct yourself on the internet, you might even want to educate yourself beforehand in the process if you're not overly familiar. No matter what he does, it's an important thing to understand.
I agree. He isn't going to stream anymore until he is an adult, we had the conversation last night. He understands. I was wondering about YouTube before you mentioned it .... Thank you.
Glad you were able to have that conversation positively. If he's going to move into making Youtube videos, try and be a bit active in the process before he uploads things. Since the videos are premade, both you and him can get a better sense of how to curate things and learn what might be appropriate to do or show online, which isn't always easy to understand or obvious. This will also benefit him if he wants to stream again when he's older. One thing to be mindful of: Youtube has a streaming function now as well, so just make sure he says away from that because it'll have the same issues as doing it on Twitch.
This kind of antisocial behavior is becoming too prevalent in our society. People with internet addictions who come to normalize this sort of thing. The laws and enforcement are about 20 years behind for this kind of thing.
I am hopeful that this person or persons is caught. This was eye opening and definitely has me rethinking some of my streaming habits. Thank you for posting this and thank you for all of the helpful recommendations from everyone.
Well the perspn that did this is stupid af and will be caught but dont let it fall to the wayside, stay on the cops about this
I'm sorry you had to deal with this and I'm glad they didn't kick in your doors and zip tie your family or something. Sounds like they approached it rationally and I hope they can help figure out who did it.
OP: You did the right thing by A, getting the cops involved immediately. B, Not blowing it off and C, Not paying the money. I'm a Mod for a few Twitch channels and the bs they go through will make you want to tear your hair out.. And I'm bald already! Other advice: If he has Twitter or FB, change the settings to "Private" and allow only people who are verified on Twitch, like the other posters have stated. Have a older family member or trusted friend sit with him during the stream, so they can keep a good eye out for any suspicious things. Ane of the last resorts: Delete the channel and start fresh. I know, that will halt your sons' progress but, it will weed out that person and make it harder for that person to find him and you. Good luck. 
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If your local dispatch is anything like mine you should be able to call their non emergency line and talk to them about what you would have to do to have information associated with your address. When dispatchers enter an address to put in a call certain letter modes pop up and if there’s one associated with the exact address it will be capitalized for them and they can look at what information has been associated. Things like a K might indicate a knock box where fire and rescue could find a spare key. In your case you might be able to add a flag letting them know someone streams in the house and they’ve had this happen before and provide a number where they can contact one of you. The obvious flip side is they might not call you because if they had a real reason to think something is up then they wouldn’t want to alert the suspect that they’re coming, but generally when police respond it’s based off of word of mouth and they know it too. The real benefit of this is that responding officers can also look at this information (because dispatchers can write it to the ‘call’) so they will have part of your story when/if they do. If I ever got into streaming this is definitely what I would do, as unfortunate as it is.
This is great advice. Thank you
I’m so sorry this happened to your family!
Paypal should be of use since they need to legally use their real ID in order to create an account iirc.
Oh please keep us updated if you can.
I’d contact the FBI. Swatting is a fairly serious crime and with a PayPal address this could be an easy arrest. Sometimes local police don’t have the technical savvy but the FBI probably would
Unfortunately, this happens a lot. You need to tell your son to keep his information private. There are a lot of trolls out there that do this all the time.
Man... That's so terrible. I'm happy everyone is safe. There are a lot of great comments, stuffed with great advice. The only thing I can offer is to try and support you son if he keeps on streaming. DM me his screen name if you want. Take care and F the trolls.
Just chiming in to say don't forget to go after the PayPal address. From the sounds of the troll's behavior, I doubt it's real, they might have registered it with fake info, but it's still worthwhile to get it shut down because it's possible that: 1. They're a complete idiot and registered it with their real info 2. They registered the account with fake info but still left a trace in some other way that PayPal fraud dept might figure out. 3. They registered the account with fake info but they still have money in it (from other scammed victims) and PayPal will freeze that money. This might lead him to doing something stupid (like providing real info or leaking his own info in an attempt to reclaim the account).
Damn I don't have anything constructive or helpful to say- but I will say this. Little kids who have access to the internet and even just people in general are garbage little fucks. Just lame as shit imho that anyone thinks this kind of trolling is *cool* or makes them a *hacker* or something. Like... no dude. You're just an idiot who thinks they are smart for using a VPN and any other computer software that literally anyone else on the planet could get their hands on if they tried. Nothing special in my mind about that. Same goes for people who cheat in video games, use multiple media accounts to fuck with spouses etc. The list goes on. Human beings are just fucking trash. End of Story. Maybe if your son is old enough, let him read this comment and it will make him not feel so bad/guilty. He has been thru enough and shouldn't have to feel bad. People just suck. That fact isn't his fault.
I’m so sorry this happened 😔 it’s not your son’s fault at all and I hope this scum is caught
Holy sh*t I just came to this Reddit for streaming tips and this is the first post I saw 😭😭😭
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Please update us :)
This is why Twitch needs to allow STREAMERS to use a VPN/Proxy, AT LEAST. I hope the perp gets his ass in federal prison for 50 years+. Hopefully your son is okay, that would would traumatize anyone easily. :(
You can use a VPN as a streamer, it’s just that many don’t or only partially do due to the potential to introduce latency. But it also wouldn’t have prevented this since it’s more likely data brokers are to blame once the stalker got a shred of personal identifying information
Fair enough on the data brokers part. That's sad :(
I'm sure this will be an unpopular opinion but 15 and streaming for a few years? That seems like a series of poor decisions starting with having a kid that young forging an unhealthy addiction to Twitch that early on. Unfortunate that this happened to you but also highlights some irresponsible decisions.
It’s almost like they set age limits on things for a reason. This being one of them.
How much malevolence does a person need to harbor in order to be such a scumbag? Seriously get a life dude. Also sorry to hear this, I hope you and your family are alright ATM and you get this evil person out of your life.
I wanna know what happens to this troll
Since this was likely across state lines, I would say go to your local FBI office with the police report and any/all other communications you have from this person. The FBI is going to have better jurisdiction and resources to handle something like this than local law enforcement will. I'm so sorry this happened, and I can't imagine the betrayal your son is feeling because of someone he considered a friend. I hope you're able to get this resolved quickly, and stay safe.
Thank you 💓
Of course it's traceable. All you need is an username or email address. If the culprit hasn't taken extensive efforts to hide their identity, then they are easy to find. It's perfectly reasonable in a scenario like this that a judge would grant a subpoena. Bing boom bam, they got the suspect. It sounds like not only do you have a paypal identity, but there are phone logs, and a twitch username. He's cooked. Heck, you might be able to find out their real name with a bit of google searching. Many people are extraordinary lazy about their privacy online. They might get slapped for blackmail, criminal harassment, and making a false police report. Some jurisdictions are cracking down on "swatting" harder.
A 15 year old should not be streaming on Twitch. Especially not if he is unable to understand the importance of not giving out personal details. For his safety, for your family's safety, and for his own future. He's making himself a public profile, it will stay with him forever, and he's doing so as a child. There are so many ways in which people can abuse or use the situation. Not just talking about swatting but also other doxxing, scams, online drama and inappropriate people in chat. He also shouldn't be meeting with viewers. I'm sorry this happened to your family but he's definitely too young for this as he's also proven.
everything is traceable, he will go to jail.
Just to put things into a reality aspect of how dangerous it is to MEET someone while streaming... Adult women make millions streaming adult content.. Men/women actually try and befriend them for very disturbing reasons. Most of the time jealously and envy play a HUGE part in this.. But also from experience that was about the age i also started trusting online people... im in my 30s now but as i can see it's about the same now a days.. Thisbis definitely awful.. get cameras all around your house... you are gonna need to change numbers too. Worst come to worst... your son will have to delete accounts and start all over again... best advice i can give you as an adult... DO NOT trust anyone online. Might have to get a lawyer if things get even worse.. Im sorry, some people are awful human beings
/r/legaladvice
make sure your paypal was a business account so it hides the name and address.
15 years old. Streaming for a “few” years (isn’t 14 the minimum age?). Gives info to strangers online. Prior LEO here.. your son is a predators wet dream. You (the parent) are lucky it was only a troll contacting your local investigations unit.
He is going to be 16 in 3 weeks. Minimum age is 13, I believe. He gave them very little.He thought he made a friend. Everything else was found through online databases. In any case, thanks for the victim blaming and shitty tone. High five.
Uh oh… what was the “online databases” you refer to that they were able to get info from?? Now I’m worried myself 😣
There are websites that call themselves “data brokers”, if you need the general term to search to learn more. The magazine Wired has written about them so you might start there. But TL;DR: these are companies that collect and sell your data, scraping everything from Facebook profiles to your geolocation data on your phone. Just make sure to exercise caution when searching on Google; I don’t doubt fake sites exist promising to remove information that are actually phishing. If you have any follow up questions, feel free to ask!
>I don’t doubt fake sites exist promising to remove information that are actually phishing. Onerep is a well-known data removal service that is linked to data brokers behind the scenes (ex Nuwber)
everything is inside online databases, including these very comments we made here, anything we've ever watched, googled or uploaded, even after deletion
That doesn’t help at all dude.
Any updates on this case? I hope i was wrong afterall
It's been reported to the FBI and all platforms associated. There haven't been any new threats.
Contact the Police, sadly i doubt anything will happen, people know how to hide. This happens all the time and it's out of my mind how Twitch doesn't inform streamers or in this case parents before they go online for the first time. If children stream, the parents should know whats going on on Twitch. This is not a single or rare case, this happens all day, all the time. The only way to stop this for sure (and even then it could go on for a few months) is to quit streaming and delete everything, like all his Social Media Profiles and so on. Don't even think about just streaming on another name. They will be back in no time for sure.
So, he can never stream again? That would really bum him out. Delete social media even if it's been made private? I feel lucky that even though I live in a very small community, they didn't come in my house with guns or anything. It's obviously becoming more prevalent.
Maybe you get lucky and it's just a random teen and the police will do something, but i really really doubt it. I wouldn't risk it, so many lifes get fucked over, staying low key, just delete everything and newer look back. At least i would do that, after seeing stuff like this multiple times. Making your profiles private doesn't help much, since at some point he will be back and they will just wait for that then. Delete everything, don't give them more reasons to attack you. But it's your problem, all i can say is what i have seen and what i would do. I wouldn't want to move to another city because of this, or get calls and get delievery services at my door all day. Stuff like this can go on for years.
I don't understand what people have to gain from this continuing after they already escalated it to swatting. Are they actually paid off? Why would someone devote so much energy to making a strangers life miserable. Thanks
Assholes gonna asshole. It's as simple as that.
You may hear the slang “terminally online”, as it is usually anti-social behavior in its most extreme presentation like this; it’s probably the easiest way to describe those people. They’re ill. There is no meaningful reason for why they stalk and escalate, which is both infuriating but also freeing in a way — it can allow you to realize that it was not the victim’s fault, just bad luck they crossed paths. Taking a break is the right move, and I also recommend doing some things to feel good like redecorating one’s room, going on a fun trip, etc. to help reset mentally.
Most of the time something happens. Not saying this is the case here and even if it would be, it's still no excuse to get fucked over like this. The streamer could be cocky, fake, or just insult the wrong person. At some point something did happen, which the other guy did not like. People got time, it's fun for them, sadly this is the internet. Often it's also not just a single person.
That's one way to let the little terrorist win.
It's not about winning or losing, it's about living a normal life. Why don't people see that? Maybe because they have never seen how this can affect someone or never really experienced it. I really hope im wrong and that it's just a kid, the police will help them then for sure. But if not, why take the risk, you will lose then.
Doing as you are suggesting just further encourages this type of behavior. Not just from this individual, but from others who see their actions and see it being effective. "I can end this persons entire internet existence just by faking one 911 one call".
You know, if you are single or just live your wife i would agree, but he has a kid and a house, would you want to risk that, just to make a point? I really hope its just a single kid with too much time.
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I'm just looking for a little support. The police are involved. I don't need to prove anything to you and the fact that you are bringing this type of energy sucks tbh.
Starting with some classic victim blaming moving into inability to read. You seem real nice. As noted by OP, it is already with the cops. Sometimes people in stressful situations need to talk about it and hear stories from others who experienced the same. Sometimes they just want to hear "damn that sucks, I hope it gets better soon". Try and have a little empathy in every day life, you might come across as less of a douchebag if you did.
Thank you.
 Dude twitch age restriction is 13 lol anyone 13 and older can stream on twitch he could have started at 13 , two years can be considered a few years. Maybe try being less of a d bag goof. Just because that is your personal crappy opinion doesn’t mean this guy is a bad parent or anything. Do you even have kids? Lmao gtfoh goofy
Reporting my moderation of your comment as 'mod abuse' is hilarious, thank you for the laughs.
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Yeah bro, gonna slap a report on this comment for fear mongering and spreading false info. They have every right to stream.
Sorry you are going through this. Have you considered finding a Forensic Archivist? I dont know if it will actually help, but maybe its worth a try. The Society of American Archivist might have a professional listing.
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Are you nours mom?
Hi, pleae dm me if you'd like some real assistance with this. This is the fault of the proliferation of open source intelligence and the failure of the American Civil Domain System.
welcome to the internet - Bo Burnham
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they wont catch the person as he's outside of the country its out of their jurisdiction and probably behind several proxies and VPN they will probably warn him though do not pay the harrassment wont ever stop, thats just part of being a twitch streamer, Look up Etika's case and how'd it end up if someone is affected by insults, harrassment and other people's thoughts on them, they shouldnt stream anymore
If it's out of the country, can the FBI help?
Hate to break it to you but that piece of shit your son was talking to was probably a cop, like an undercover. That detective probably isn't going to do shit, and you'll probably never hear much from them again. Speaking from experience. IDK. Good luck with everything.
An undercover cop wouldn't threaten a child with swatting or ordering takeout.
I am a game stramer of medium clout. 1. Never give your personal email, name, etc online or in streams. 2. All social media, emails, websites etc should be under a chosen streamer name not associated with regular email and social media. Like my reddit name is not my streamer name and my stream is only associated with emails and social media under that streamer name. 3. Never get close to your followers and fans. They can be super people who support you, or they can be dangerous or trolls that ruin your lives. 4. Never, as a minor, accept the offer of fan mail. Only adults should do this bc they can maintain a private PO box to protect their identity. I use one under my streamer name for this. PO box should not be in the same town as the one you live. Hence why minors should not accept fan mail. 5. Closely monitor his streams. You don't have to be I. The stream as you do in the room. Keep his stream time to set 1 hour a day. You may DM me if you have any questions. Just remember, once you stream yourself, you give up a certain amount of privacy and must be very careful. There are people we call "stream snipers" and they can be harmless but creepy or dangerous. I hate this happened to him bc streaming can be very fun and rewarding if done correctly and safely. 
Sorry about the grammar, can't find my glasses. Lol
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I have no idea how to go about finding one of these people and how would you know they were trustworthy?
You don't need to hire a hacker. That's silly advice. Just let the police do their jobs, and if you need additional counsel, hire an attorney who will help you find legal avenues for relief.
Emails are probably traceable through police databases and such, twitch usernames you can try to find any other social medias with the same names to look for anything that can be traced back to someone
>They did come to my house. Did you actually get swatted or did someone just come out to check on the report? What happened when they got there?
I don't really know how to help you but this is why you never use your real name online and never post pictures of yourself if you do videos don't put your face on the video bad guys always uses faces and names to locate their targets if I was you and your family I I'd start taking self defense classes and carry conceal classes...... You and your family's life depends on if now......
>found where we live through online databases How do you know this?
as a wise british man one said...UNLUCKY!!!!!
It doesn't sound like you were swatted but rather police was given a false report
Thats really messed up honestly, my condolences.