Rockstar Games robs GTA Online cheats of ill-gotten gains

Rockstar Games has reignited its crackdown on GTA Online cheaters by draining ill-gained money from their in-game bank accounts. The Grand Theft Auto 5 publisher has told players that those who have used cheats, mods or glitches to acquire funds "illegitimately" in the online portion of the game would find this cash missing from their accounts.

In a post on the Rockstar Support forum, the company said: "To keep the gameplay environment fair we have removed illegitimately gained in-game money from player accounts. If you received an alert saying that your shared bank balance was adjusted, that is because you had illegitimate funds in your account."

Rockstar appears to taking the most severe action against GTA Online players who have cheated the game out of billions or trillions of in-game dollars, with users on GTA Forums reporting that their bank balances have now been reset to zero. According to VG24/7, players who have taken advantage of in-game glitches to exploit mission pay-outs have also seen money disappear.

This isn't the first time Rockstar has taken aim at cheaters. In 2015, the publisher began enforcing account bans on players suspected to have used mods and cheats to get ahead of opponents, including taking advantage of money glitches.

Players suspected to have used cheats to gain money in GTA Online will be notified upon logging in to the game that their GTA Online cash balance has been adjusted, alongside the following message:

"We have determined that your account illegitimately gained in-game money via mods, cheats or other actions. We've adjusted your account and updated your balance. No additional action is pending against your account. Note that accounts that illegitimately gain money in the future will be subjected to action including the Cheater Pool, account reset or suspension of Online access."