Earlier this week, Rockstar Games issued a title update for Grand Theft Auto 5's online multiplayer mode, GTA Online, in an effort to combat cheaters and exploiters in the game. The primary focus of the update was to remove the counterfeit GTA$ (money) from the game's economy. Developer Rockstar Games has been combating cheaters in GTA Online since the mode launched in October.
"We have deployed several hotfixes to prevent this type of activity, and will be adding further cheat protection in future Title Updates as well. Players who willingly cheated to create this illegitimate influx of in-game currency will be separated out from the rest of the population," Rockstar warns.
Should you be concerned?
Well, that depends. If you are knowingly cheater or hacking you may be placed in "isolated cheater pools," or risk being banned from GTA Online altogether.
But what about if you receive a large sum of GTA$ cash as a result of these exploits, but did not engage in cheating?
According to Rockstar, you will not face any further action — the funds will simply be removed and you'll keep any items you currently own.
"If you were the unwilling recipient of an impossibly large amount of GTA$, you do not need to worry about disciplinary action against your account," the developer says. "However, please be aware that we will be making community-wide automatic adjustments to players’ account balances to remove the modded money."
To give you a better understanding of how this all works, Rockstar routinely does sweeps to separate out cheaters and modders, and to reverse any illegitimate transactions. These sweeps are based on in-game automated detection, examination of suspicious gameplay stats, and manually-reviewed evidence submitted by the Community. Again, if you aren't engaged in any "willful" cheating, you don't need to worry.
Should you receive a huge amount of modded money, Rockstar says you do not need to report it. They can tell the difference.
Lastly, if you spent or transferred any of the money that was given by cheaters, Rockstar will make balance adjustments to your account. Rockstar notes that you may find your account balance to be a bit lower than it was before receiving the counterfeit money. This is to make up for the items that you bought, which you will be allowed to keep. Should you have been left with little or no GTA$ after the adjustments, Rockstar will add "sufficient funds" to your account.
For more helpful answers to questions regarding the latest GTA Online "Cheater" update, check out Rockstar Support.
