In recent weeks, GTA 5’s Ned Luke, who plays Michael De Santa, has suffered from several ‘swatting’ incidents while broadcasting gameplay on YouTube. In case you’re not familiar with the term, ‘swatting’ is where a malicious individual calls the police to an address, stating that something serious enough is happening there to warrant a heavy, armed response to arrive. It’s an all too common thing to see in the streaming community, and last night, it happened again to Ned Luke.
‘Just Another Day in the Neighbourhood’
In a clip that’s doing the rounds on social media, Ned Luke can be seen reacting to a swatting attempt that was reportedly not fully successful. It’s one of many attempts to swat the voice actor in recent weeks, and unfortunately, some of them have resulted in police officers arriving at his residence in New York.
However, Luke remained lighthearted while streaming Grand Theft Auto 5 gameplay, despite the obvious safety concerns:
Alright, well that was fun. Nice try. Didn’t work – didn’t work! Just another day in the neighbourhood, just like Mr Rogers.
Sadly, this kind of thing is almost impossible to prevent. It’s tough to track who made the original call, and with modern capabilities, it’s far too easy to learn the locations of popular streamers. In the last few years, the number of ‘swatting’ incidents has skyrocketed, and in some cases, this trend has led to the death of some people.
Ned Luke has amassed 175,000 YouTube subscribers since he started uploading content. If you want to support his stream, you can do so here.
For more Insider Gaming coverage, check out the news that Bobby Kotick is being flayed on social media
