GTA Online maintenance to punish cheaters

Rockstar Games have said that the maintenance currently being carried out on GTA Online will see cheaters punished or possibly banned.

Since 9PM last night (2AM UK time) GTA Online has been offline, for at least 24 hours, whilst Rockstar carries out some maintenance with part of it focusing on players who have been cheating using modded GTA cash.

For several weeks, GTA Online players have been complaining to Rockstar about being gifted substantial amounts of money from cheaters, with some being gifted up to 7 figure payouts. Many were concerned that they would be banned from the game for using the money but Rockstar had previously assured fans that those honest players will not be punished as they conduct regular sweeps to reverse such transactions.

Now, Rockstar have released a full statement via their website saying those players who engaged in cheating activity will be subjected to in-game penalties and may even be placed in isolated cheater pools or banned from GTA Online.

The statement read: “In recent weeks, a small number of Grand Theft Auto Online players sought to exploit the game by generating and distributing game-breaking amounts of in-game cash, disrupting the experience for other players. We will continue to issue title updates on an ongoing basis to counter the negative impact this has had on gameplay, and as part of today’s maintenance period, we are removing the counterfeit GTA$ from the game’s economy.”

Rockstar continued to assure honest players who received payouts from cheaters will not face any action as long as they didn’t engage in cheating activity to acquire it. They will be free to keep any items they currently own and the funds they were gifted will be removed.

They also urged players to report cheaters using the in-game reporting system. “Should you ever encounter someone in GTA Online that appears to be taking advantage of exploits in your session, we ask that you alert us directly via the in-game reporting functionality,” the statement continued.

“In the Pause menu, under the Online tab, select Players and scroll to the offending player. From there, select Report and choose Exploits from the violation options.”