The two big Twitch streamers Amouranth and xQc report regularly becoming victims of swatting – a type of terrorisation that can have severe consequences.
The biggest Twitch streamer Kaitlyn “Amouranth” Siragusa talks about her experience with swatting in an interview. She is swatted several times a week and is now on a first-name basis with the local police. In addition, Felix “xQc” Lengyel has also suffered from the trend and is now taking drastic measures.
What is this trend all about anyway? Swatting is when people call the police and describe a threatening emergency situation that demands a harsh intervention by the police. By doing so, the callers hope that a SWAT team will drive to the streamer’s address and investigate the matter there. This is associated with a lot of stress for the streamers concerned and has ended fatally in the past. Because of this, swatting is also a punishable offence.
As Amouranth reports, she has been swatted extremely frequently for a while now and has a guard dog as a partial solution in the meantime, since apparently so many strangers have the 26-year-old’s address. In addition, she is on a “first name” basis with the police as she gets visits from the local authorities so often. This means that the parties are on a first-name basis.
Furthermore, the controversial Twitch streamer is considering buying a gun. Although she is aware that this could protect her from foreign intruders, it could also lead to more dangerous situations in connection with the police.
xQc flees to Canada
For his part, the great streamer xQc has already pulled the rip cord. The French-Canadian was actually streaming from his home in the USA. In the meantime, however, he has left his home and moved in with his friend and fellow streamer “Sodapoppin”. The reason for this, apart from regular swatting, was also a break-in at his old domicile.
Since xQc has been openly talking about this problem on Twitch, the swat calls have even increased, according to him. Because of this, he had no other option but to flee his house. In the meantime, the 25-year-old has returned to his home in Canada.