Streamer Drained of $31K in Solana Raised for Cancer Treatment After He Downloads Game

A crypto-focused livestreamer raising money to help fund treatment for his stage 4 cancer was drained of more than $31,000 in crypto after he downloaded a malicious game on popular PC platform Steam. Fortunately, the crypto community has rallied behind the content creator, pumping his token, sending him replacement funds, and tracking down the hackers.

Latvian streamer Raivo “Rastaland” Plavnieks created a Solana-based token on Pump.fun on Friday called Help Me Beat Cancer (CANCER), and started to play video games for viewers. Token creators on the platform earn a percentage of all trades made on a token, which Plavnieks was going to use to help fund treatment for his rare form of sarcoma cancer.

On Sunday, a viewer asked Plavnieks to download a verified game on Steam and play it. After launching the game called Block Blasters, Plavnieks was drained of $31,189 he had raised from creator fees. The streamer then let out a harrowing cry as his viewers watched.

“I can’t breathe, I can’t think, I’m completely lost on what is going to happen next. Can’t shake the feeling that it is my fault that I might end up on the street again or not have anything to eat in [a] few days,” Plavnieks wrote on X. “My heart wants to jump out of my mouth, and it hurts.”

Plavnieks is a 26-year-old self-defined crypto degen living in Latvia. He noticed a lump on his back in December that grew painful, and was soon diagnosed with a rare form of stage 4 high-grade sarcoma cancer. Plavnieks is currently undergoing chemotherapy, in part funded by a GoFundMe—which has received an influx of donations following the incident.

Crypto fights back

After hearing about the hack, members of the crypto and broader online security community rallied behind Plavnieks. The streamer’s CANCER token pumped 3,000% to a $2.5 million market cap, generating substantially more creator rewards, and sleuths started to track down the hacker.

Well-known pseudonymous crypto investigator ZachXBT teamed up with a group of other researchers to diagnose how the hack happened, who was behind it, and how to resolve the issue. 

ZachXBT said that the malicious Block Blasters game has led to more than $150,000 worth of crypto being stolen, and called out Valve for allowing the game on the Steam storefront. Malware expert vx-underground told Decrypt that 907 devices were infected by the game, although he speculates some are duplicates and estimates there to be approximately 400 victims.

“I think with such a heinous crime as stealing from society’s most vulnerable, we can set aside differences and use our skills for the greater good,” a pseudonymous security researcher known as 1989 told Decrypt. “There are currently many security researchers and people all over X with skills in OSINT teaming together to be able to bring [the hackers] to justice.”

He claims to be in contact with the attackers, alongside ZachXBT, as they attempt to “convince” them to return the money not only to Plavnieks but all victims.

However, according to Telegram screenshots shared in a technical report, the attacker appears unsympathetic, claiming that Plavnieks will make that money back. The attackers also claimed they’d return the stolen funds, but the report said they had not.

“There appears to have been a group of them working together to target a wide variety of cryptocurrency holders/investors,” 1989 told Decrypt. “They haven’t outright admitted, but there’s mountains of evidence; it is just a case of tying it all together and having appropriate law enforcement use their resources to bring them in.”

One alleged member of the group was supposedly identified via social media, but has denied involvement.

Plavnieks said he has reported the incident to the police, switched out the wallet that creator rewards go to, and is changing his computer’s SSD just in case. Crypto influencer Alex Becker donated $32,500 to cover the losses, with others also offering financial support.

“Thank you all from the bottom of my heart. Me, my brothers, and my mom are completely left without words on all the support we have received [over the] past 24 hours after the hack happened,” Plavnieks wrote on X early Monday. “Words will never express how thankful me and my family are. I hope we can express it in some way or another to you all soon!”

“I will be back LIVE today,” he added.