Twitch streaming star Keffals swatted and arrested in her home

Keffals, a Twitch streamer, was caught in her own home and taken into custody Aug. 5, after malicious hackers sent her a fake email that threatened others.

Keffals posted Tuesday a video detailing the incident. She claimed that London, Ontario police had awakened her at gunpoint after an online troll assumed she and sent threats to all members of London’s city council. Keffals stated that she was shown a fake email by police during her interrogation. The email claimed Kefals had threatened to kill her mother and to bring an illegal weapon to other city halls.

Keffals claims she is still a suspect in a ongoing investigation by London police. According to her, her brother warned her that she might be the victim of such abuse. Keffals also stated that she has been effectively blocked from her social media accounts due to the fact that police still have her phone. She needs it for two-factor authentication.

“Swatting is a crime,” she said in the video posted Tuesday. “Identity theft is a crime. Because it was motivated by hate against transgender persons, it was a hate-crime against me.

“Instead of the police helping me, they terrorized me and my loved ones,” said Keffals, who also said police continually deadnamed her during the interrogation. Images of her search warrant and property bags that authorized the raid at her house were provided by Keffals.

Keffals herself is transgender, and is well-known for her controversial videos on Twitch that confront transphobia. This July’s video was uploaded by Keffals. Twitch banned herAfter users flagged falsely a video she had uploaded, she was unable to reinstate her channel. Twitch reinstated her channel a few weeks later after discovering that she had been subject to abuse. appeal of the ban was correct.

For creators from marginalized backgrounds, harassment and hate continue to plague Twitch. Creators held a protest in the autumn of 2021 to highlight hateful content on the streaming site. Twitch took legal action against the people behind hateful attacks over the past 2 years. It also introduced security improvements and removed chat emotes associated with violence.

Polygon has reached out to Twitch for comment regarding Keffals’ arrest. Keffals said she is not sure when she will resume broadcasting. However, she told viewers that while she was preparing a GoFundMe fund to assist her in moving and recovering from the swatting incident she lost money.