Rockstar Games is permanently banning players for using an account duplication exploit in GTA V’s multiplayer component, GTA Online.
Twitter/X user ClassiqueGTA has reported that Rockstar Games is handing out permanent account suspensions in GTA Online for the PS5 and Xbox Series X|S to those using an account duplication exploit.
The aforementioned exploit allows a GTA Online player to make a 1:1 copy of another player’s data. As a result of this hack, many GTA Online accounts were seen in Rank 7984. It’s also worth mentioning that those who have received a ban and are subscribed to GTA+ will need to manually cancel their subscription, as the ban will not automatically unsubscribe them.
Cheating in online games is a rare sight on the console side of things, owing to their closed ecosystem. It’s good to see that Rockstar Games has swiftly dealt with them here, allowing business to return to usual in GTA Online. A lot of players invest time and effort into achieving high ranks, so those who try to circumvent the system and look for shortcuts are only asking for a ban. This has been a bigger issue in the PC version of GTA Online, where cheating is more widespread.
Last year, Hackers in GTA Online had found a PC exploit that could potentially be used to delete the profiles of other players. This harmful exploit was circulated across those with malicious intent. Through mods and other exploits possible in the PC version, cheaters had discovered a way to permanently delete other players’ game profiles. Additionally, hackers gained the ability to alter player stats and bring about a game crash. Subsequently, Rockstar Games rolled out an update to fix the exploit in the PC version of GTA Online. The patch addressed spoofed RIDs/names and made invite-only lobbies more secure. Therefore, online cheaters were no longer able to join these lobbies uninvited.
