‘Pokémon Go’ Cheaters Get Threatened With Bans Again As Niantic Adds Third-Party Scan Blocks

Pokémon Go players using third-party scanning apps and cheats to catch Pokémon are being warned by Niantic about the possibility of bans. Developers and trainers alike are aware of the situation.

Signs of new security measures first arrived on Wednesday when the FastPokeMap Twitter account posted that “new security by Pokémon Go servers has been rolled out.” The message was quickly followed up by an assessment that “this will be tough to bypass. I sure hope Niantic has a real tracker planned because otherwise I ask you to boycott,” the project representative added.

Following these tweets, all FastPokeMap scanners were down or running in an impacted state through Thursday. Service is starting to return to normal now, but not without a lot of extra tweaking and coding from those involved.

At the same time this particular fiasco was unfolding, several Pokémon Go players, like one silly-named Reddit user, started receiving a special security message when opening the app. “We have detected signals from your account that suggest you are using third-party applications or modified software typically associated with cheating,” it reads, “Please be aware that the use of such software can result in the permanent banning of your account and loss of all progress in the game at any time.” In closing, it’s advised that “if you have been using such software, we encourage you to stop.”

From this dialogue box it’s hard to figure out if Niantic is referencing GPS bots or Pokémon trackers, but, given that third-party applications and modified software are separately mentioned, our guess is it’s trying to target both tools.

What remains to be seen, however, is if Niantic can truly find proof that scanners like FastPokeMap are being used. Especially if the tool is accessed purely from the browser and filtered through Captcha codes, it’s hard to imagine that definitive traces could actually be found. This is especially true considering many users of third-party apps know to use a dummy account for tracking. Through those methods, the main account with all of the important stats is kept clean.

Might Niantic be using this dialogue box as a scare tactic rather than a rule? It certainly seems that way. We’ve yet to receive word of a subsequent ban wave for cheaters in any capacity. That being said, Niantic certainly remains committed to keeping Pokémon Go players tied to only the services they provide. The Go Scan app was just taken offline earlier this week.

Pokémon Go is available now on Android and iOS.

What do you think of Niantic’s anti-cheat policy? Have you openly used trackers and received this warning? Tell us in the comments section!