15 Suspects Arrested and Fined $5.1 Million for Selling PUBG Cheats and Hacks

In their latest Anti-Cheat efforts, PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds developer, Bluehole has stated that on April 25th, 15 suspects were arrested for developing and selling hacking/cheating programs for PUBG.

It was also confirmed that included in these cheats, was malicious code, including a trojan that would steal user information. The suspects have been fined the equivalent of $5.1 million, with others still under investigation.

An Update on Our Anti-Cheat Efforts

27 APRIL - RKRIGNEY

Hi everyone,

As you all now know, we’ve been doing everything possible to root out cheating from PUBG. The ultimate goal is to create an environment for players that’s completely safe from hackers and cheaters. 

We take cheating extremely seriously. Developing, selling, promoting, or using unauthorized hacking/cheating programs isn’t just unfair for others playing PUBG—in many places, it’s also against the law.

We’ve upgraded our security measures, improved our anti-cheat solutions, and recently even added a new anti-cheat solution on top of all that. In the meantime, we’ve also been continuously gathering information on hack developers (and sellers) and have been working extensively with multiple partners and judicial authorities to bring these people to justice.

Earlier this month, on April 25th, 15 suspects were arrested for developing and selling hacking/cheating programs that affect PUBG. It was confirmed that malicious code, including Trojan horse software, was included in some of these programs and was used to steal user information.

Here’s some translated information from the local authorities we worked with on this case:

"15 major suspects including “OMG”, “FL”, “火狐”, “须弥” and “炎黄” were arrested for developing hack programs, hosting marketplaces for hack programs, and brokering transactions. Currently the suspects have been fined approximately 30mil RNB ($5.1mil USD). Other suspects related to this case are still being investigated.

Some hack programs that are being distributed through the internet includes a Huigezi Trojan horse*(Chinese backdoor) virus. It was proven that hack developers used this virus to control users’ PC, scan their data, and extract information illegally.”

The longstanding rumor that hacking/cheating programs extract information from users’ PCs has been confirmed to be true. Using illegal programs not only disrupts others, but can end up with you handing over your personal information.

We’ll continue to crack down on hacking/cheating programs (and their creators) until our players are free to battle it out in a totally fair environment.

Thanks for playing,
PUBG Corp.