Pokimane's Leaked Phone Number Turned Into A Real Nightmare

This article covers threats of sexual violence and stalking.

It may be a dream job for so many people, but streaming is also more dangerous than anyone realizes. In particular, streamers need to be on guard about protecting their private information. It's a lesson that many big streamers have had to learn repeatedly through accidentally leaking their personal info. Pokimane recently shared a horrifying story that reminded her (and us) just how important privacy can be.

On a recent episode of Pokimane and LilyPichu's "Sweet n Sour Podcast," the creators talked about everything from the intricacies of streaming to the merits of Pixar's "Ratatouille." At one point, the conversation took a bit of a dark turn as Pokimane revealed what happened after she and a friend of hers had their phone numbers leaked online. It didn't take long for someone to take advantage of the leak to harass Pokimane, and the entire situation quickly became yet another tragic story Pokimane needed to handle.

On the podcast, Pokimane explained her friend's number had somehow been leaked, which allowed bad actors to spoof their number. That way, they had a better chance of actually getting Pokimane to answer her phone when they called her on her own leaked number. And that's exactly what happened.

"My phone reads it as 'Hey, your friend Ray is calling,'" Pokimane said. Knowing her friends don't usually call, Pokimane thought something was wrong and quickly picked up the phone. According to the streamer, the person on the other end immediately threatened her with sexual assault. Of course, this is a scene straight out of a horror movie, but Pokimane was somehow able to laugh in the retelling and call it "literally, kooky beans s***." She went on to explain that whoever was harassing her had also called her friend Ray, and the two of them ended up blocking each other on Discord out of fear that those accounts might have been hacked as well.

Even though she was able to retell the story in a lighthearted way, Pokimane admitted that incidents like this have made her nervous about phone calls in general. She's faced this specific kind of harassment before, and she said that whenever she gets brave enough to give her phone number to someone new, she specifically asks them not to call her unless it's absolutely necessary. Thankfully, it seems this particular stalker never bothered her again.