Cheating Crackdown in PUBG

In an announcement from over the weekend, PUBG Corp. revealed that at least fifteen players have been arrested for the development and sale of online hacks and cheating programs related to PUBG. The publisher has been dealing with problems from the region for quite some time, with a report from mid-February revealing that 99% of banned players hail from the region.

In the statement, Communications Lead Ryan Rigney stated that “We take cheating extremely seriously. Developing, selling, promoting, or using unauthorized hacking/cheating programs isn’t just unfair for others playing PUBG—in many places, it’s also against the law. We’ve upgraded our security measures, improved our anti-cheat solutions, and recently even added a new anti-cheat solution on top of all that. In the meantime, we’ve also been continuously gathering information on hack developers (and sellers) and have been working extensively with multiple partners and judicial authorities to bring these people to justice.”

Rigney went on to share details from the local Chinese law enforcement about the arrests, quoting “15 major suspects including “OMG”, “FL”, “火狐”, “须弥” and “炎黄” were arrested for developing hack programs, hosting marketplaces for hack programs, and brokering transactions. Currently the suspects have been fined approximately 30mil RNB ($5.1mil USD). Other suspects related to this case are still being investigated. Some hack programs that are being distributed through the internet includes a Huigezi Trojan horse*(Chinese backdoor) virus. It was proven that hack developers used this virus to control users’ PC, scan their data, and extract information illegally.”

The publisher promises to continue cracking down on hackers in game, though with arrests being made and fines levelled at offending players, hopefully the waters will calm soon enough.

(Banner image courtesy of PUBG Corp.)