In November 2023, the gaming community alarmed by the news that armed malefactors allegedly organized a hostage-taking in the office of a Canadian studio Ubisoft Montreal… Law enforcers cordoned off an entire block in Montreal, and some of the company’s employees barricaded themselves on the roof.
As a result, the information about the terrorists was not confirmed. As the police said, they received information about an armed robbery, which allegedly took place in a nearby building. At the same time, the “spoofing” method was used (when the call was made, the Ubisoft office number was displayed).
Later, there were two more false calls: on December 18, 2023, it was reported about the “mining” of the kindergarten, and on January 6, 2023 – about the “hostage-taking victim” of the top manager. However, the police acted more cautiously and quietly.
This is happening right now near @UbisoftMTL – @CBCMontreal @CBCTheNational @CTVMontreal @CTVNews @Global_Montreal @LP_LaPresse @LeDevoir pic.twitter.com/ZxiJrAkkbm
– Paul Desbaillets (@pauldesbaillets) November 13, 2023
This week’s newspaper La Presse shared new information about the investigation of the incident, which Canadian law enforcement officers are conducting with the assistance of Ubisoft. And it makes you look at the incident in a new way.
As the journalist writes Tristan Pelokenthe main suspect in the case is a French citizen Yanni Wahiun (Yanni ouahioune), which is known on the Web by pseudonyms Yannox and Y4nn0XX… He is the creator of a fake Ubisoft website to steal player accounts in Rainbow six: siege… The publisher’s “Ethics Committee” also blocked Wahiun’s accounts in the game about 80 times in-game for using cheats.
The suspect admitted that in 2017 he organized a “swatting” (a fake call to the police to storm an opponent’s house). However, the gamer denies accusations of involvement in the “hostage-taking” in Montreal.
“The only time I called Ubisoft, I insulted them for not being able to play Rainbow Six,” Yannox said.
Interestingly, on January 7, 2023, the attacker called Ubisoft and tried to impersonate one of the developers. Rainbow sixto access your corporate account. Having received a refusal, he became enraged and began to threaten an employee of the company.
“I will continue to terrorize you to death! I want to get all the keys to R6 and have access to the commands that ban people,” the “telephone terrorist” listed his requirements.
He also demanded to block the account of the popular Swedish streamer Spoit.GODSENT… Later, the blogger’s account was hacked.
In the course of an internal investigation, Ubisoft established a link between the hacked Spoit.GODSENT account, the “telephone terrorist” and Yannox. The cheater himself said that the purpose of the attack on the opponent was the desire to enjoy “notoriety”.
The documents indicate that Yannox allegedly purchased equipment for organizing DDoS attacks, but the suspect denies this.
Representatives of Ubisoft did not comment on La Presse information received by journalists, referring to an agreement with the investigation.
Peloken added that it will be difficult for Canadians to bring Yannox to justice. Although there is an extradition clause between Canada and France, Paris on principle refuses to extradite French citizens to other countries.
“Can you write that I am politely asking the Ubisoft team to unblock my account? I have spent over $ 1,500 on cosmetic items … I don’t even have a PC. I only have an old phone, I’m done with bad things. I am no longer I want to disappoint my mother “- added the defendant.
The La Presse article also doesn’t say if Ubisoft plans to sue Yannox in France. Due to the incident in Montreal, the publisher lost about 1.7 million Canadian dollars. Another 15 thousand dollars had to be spent on psychological support for employees and 40 thousand – to compensate for material damage.
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