YouTube streaming star Rachell ‘Valkyrae’ Hoffstetter revealed key details dating back to when her social media accounts were compromised in 2019, claiming the hackers had threatened her for an entire year beforehand.
Valkyrae is one of the most popular broadcasters on the net right now, and one of the most-watched female streamers overall.
After parting ways with Twitch to switch to YouTube in 2020, she’s continued to rise to greater heights — but not everything has been sunshine and roses for the star.
Most recently, Rae became the target of massive backlash after releasing her skincare line, RFLCT, which aimed to protect skin from “blue light” from computer and phone screens. She has since parted ways with the brand in light of criticism over the product’s claims.
Valkyrae opens up about previous social media hack
During a comeback broadcast discussing the RFLCT backlash, Rae spoke about another stressful situation that happened to her in 2019 when her social media accounts were hacked.
The streamer revealed that the hackers had threatened to take action against her for a year before finally infiltrating her accounts, successfully breaching her Instagram, and even going live on her Twitch channel.
“It was the most stressful thing ever,” she recalled. “These guys that hacked me, they were threatening me for over a year that they were gonna hack my stuff.
Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest updates on Esports, Gaming and more.
“I was prepared, you know. I had nothing that was leakable. ‘Hack my stuff — you won’t!'”
That wasn’t the worst part, though; Rae also said that the hackers had taken control of her dog’s Instagram account and had even deleted several of the pooch’s puppy photos, which Instagram unfortunately couldn’t retrieve.
Luckily, Rae was able to get everything back under her control thanks to help from her agent. Now though, she’s well prepared in case of another attack on her privacy, to the point of having two phones as an extra security measure.
“Streamers and stuff, we’re all paranoid about breaches of privacy,” she admitted.
It’s clear they have reason to be, if the hack against her is anything to go by.