Ubisoft Hostage-Taking Hoax: Alleged Suspect Is a Rainbow Six Siege Cheater

A suspect behind the Ubisoft Montréal hostage-taking hoax last year is allegedly an aggrieved Rainbow Six Siege cheater – who reportedly called in multiple threats to the studio. La Presse reports that it has obtained court documents that point to a French citizen named Yanni Ouahioune, who has apparently been banned more than 80 times from Rainbow Six Siege for cheating. La Presse says Ouahioune is being investigated for making the hoax phone call that led to a police situation at Ubisoft Montréal. The individual involved apparently spoofed their phone number to make it appear as though the call came from within the studio, claimed hostages had been taken, and demanded a ransom. Per the report, the incident cost Ubisoft $1.7 million in lost productivity, as well as costs for subsequent psychological support for employees and material damage to the office.

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— Ubisoft Montréal (@UbisoftMTL) November 14, 2020

Those documents allege that two further hoax calls were made in the following months, one reporting a bomb had been left at the studio, and another claiming that one of the company's executives had been killed. Subsequent calls reportedly saw a caller ask for access to ban people within Rainbow Six Siege, and to ask for Swedish Siege professional Spoit to be banned from the game. An Ubisoft investigation into the matter reportedly led to Ouahioune being named as a suspect. Speaking to La Presse, Ouahioune admitted that he has previously created a site to steal Siege accounts, and had been involved in swatting (in which police are called to rival players' houses using hoax calls). However, he denied any part in the hoax calls to Ubisoft Montréal, claiming that his name has only come up because he's known at Ubisoft. Ouahioune also told La Presse to ask Ubisoft to unban his account because of the amount of money he spent on cosmetics, and told the publication that he no longer participates in illicit gaming activities because he doesn't want his mother to be disappointed anymore. IGN has contacted Service de police de la Ville de Montréal and Ubisoft for comment. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Joe Skrebels is IGN's Executive Editor of News. Follow him on Twitter. Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.