Fake Rockstar channel on Twitch gets banned after alleged phishing, had over 20K concurrent viewers at its peak

A fake Twitch channel has apparently been banned for impersonating Rockstar Games after it allegedly shared phishing links to the viewers, enticing them with beta access to GTA 6. Every single gamer in the world is looking forward to any news about the upcoming Grand Theft Auto game. Naturally, thousands tuned in to the stream, which reached more than 20K concurrent live viewers at its peak.

The channel, with the alias NewsRockstar, was banned after it was live for around five hours as per stats from Twitch Tracker, which notes that the streamed games included GTA 5 and CS2. The ban's news was shared on social media by the StreamerBans account, with many wondering what caused the penalty. One user noted that it was because the channel impersonated the popular video game developer and shared dubious links.

Social media reactions to the ban (Image via X)

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"Kinda sad Twitch partnered that account": Fans speculate how Twitch partnered someone impersonating Rockstar Games

Those who are aware of how the StreamerBans bot works on X will know that it only tracks partnered accounts. This means that the NewsRockstar account had to have been partnered with Twitch. This explains how it managed to attract so many viewers in such a short time frame, as the verification mark next to it must have fooled many in the audience.

The channel's stats (Image via Twitch Tracker)

It also increased the hackers' effectiveness in allegedly spreading their phishing links at a faster rate, considering viewers would naturally trust a partnered account more than an unverified one. This has led many to question how the impersonators even got their hands on a partnered account, with one X user saying:

"Kinda sad that Twitch partnered that account."

Viewers debate how the impersonators got partnered (Image via X)

While there is no definite answer, people in the thread tried to come up with varied explanations. The more plausible ones involved the hackers either purchasing or hacking into a pre-existing partnered account that had been left unused for a long time.

The NewsRockstar handle does fit that bill, as it was reportedly created back in 2013. However, the channel's first stream was on October 13, 2023, when the impersonators allegedly started distributing phishing links to viewers.

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For the Grand Theft Auto fans, leaks and rumors have been going around the internet for quite some time. Recently, a YouTuber claimed that an official GTA 6 announcement may be coming as early as next week.