Reports emerge of time-wasting scammers promising players a spot in the NLC

There’s been reports in recent weeks of a scammer attempting to form teams of players and take their winnings.

The person had been claiming to offer a spot in the League of Legends NLC in order to entice players in, reaching out to them on Twitter, Discord and the in-game client.

Once the players are interested, the scammer makes an excuse that the tournament platform needed to play on is actually Challengermode, and has reportedly pocketed any winnings for themselves.

Top-laner FengDere posted a tweet and thorough google doc detailing the scammer’s actions.

The scammer apparently goes by the name of ChudyM19, @speedrunto30, @AndreiHoudini, @KlcPavao and @PittyUr on Twitter, and qckufpn, huntervv and KennedyFyWtd in the League of Legends EU West game client, and ProfesorMoriarty (not to be confused with UK esports content creator Michael ‘Duck’ Moriarty).

Challengermode allows third parties to host tournaments through its platform.

Challengermode’s lead community manager said in a statement sent to Esports News UK: “Our community and support team has found that prevention and education are fundamental to maintain good online privacy and security.

“In dealing with issues like this, we are also quick to aid in the recovery of the accounts that have been co-opted by a malicious agent and make sure ends up back in the hands of its rightful owner as quickly as possible.

“We also provide the often simple but essential basics of online security to our users, such as:

• Change passwords often, don’t re-use them. A password manager is better than a simple password. 
• Never give your account details to anyone. A scout, player or an organisation asking you for them is a red flag.
• If something seems too good to be true, it probably is.”

In other Challengermode news, the company recently announced its latest funding round led by eWTP Innovation Fund, the global investment arm of the Alibaba Group, with other investors including Telia Ventures, and Swedish footballer Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

The investment will help Challengermode expand into North America and further product development. 

Last year, Riot banned a League of Legends account caught impersonating UK team manager Froomie and offering players contracts.

Dom Sacco

Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.

As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.