Rockstar has apparently initiated a major ban wave for GTA Online players looking to cheat. Unfortunately, some innocents may have been caught in the crossfire.
Rockstar has fought a seemingly never-ending battle with cheaters in GTA Online since the game’s launch. Whether it’s shutting down sites that enable cheat menus or adding various forms of anti-cheat software, the war rages continuously.
The developer’s most recent attempt to stem the tide of GTA online cheaters was the implementation of third-party BattleEye anti-cheat on September 18. The move split the playerbase with some celebrating the move and others more pessimistic about the perceived inevitability of workarounds.
In response, Rockstar has rolled out a massive ban wave meant to target GTA Online players attempting to circumvent BattleEye. In the wake of this, however, multiple players have reported account bans despite claiming not to have participated in any cheating.
In the Reddit thread linked above, swathes of GTA Online players are detailing bans on their accounts. Some haven’t been recently active in the game leading to serious confusion.
“I got banned and received a ban email even though I haven’t played for like a week,” one PC player revealed. “Same got banned haven’t played in weeks,” another player replied.
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“Just had 7 years of 100% legitimate grinding wiped out,” a player on X lamented. Others are forgoing the game entirely for fear of losing their progress. “I’m not playing at all until this is fixed. It’s not worth losing everything,” one claimed.
For those fearful of an unfair GTA Online ban in the wake of this recent crackdown, there are solutions, however.
How to appeal a GTA Online ban
If you’ve been banned from GTA Online despite not having cheated, you can head to the appeals section of Rockstar’s support site. While logged into your account, select Account Appeals, then Bans & Suspensions, and finally, choose your platform.
This will take you to a ban appeal form that you can lodge with Rockstar and hopefully have your account reinstated. Keep in mind that they are likely receiving a large number of requests at the moment so it’s hard to speculate on the timeframe for a resolution. At the time of writing, there’s been no public comment from Rockstar regarding the situation.
For more on GTA Online cheaters, check out our breakdown of the MoonMoon scandal.
