GTA Online Users Alarmed Over Cheater Tracking Warning

We're going to go out on a limb here and assume that if you're reading this, you don't actually cheat in GTA Online. If you do; first of all, shame; second, this won't help you.

If you've been playing the immensely popular multiplayer mode of Grand Theft Auto 5 for a while, you might have encountered the message "We are tracking you as a possible Cheater" already — we're here to tell you what it actually means.

What is the possible cheater warning?

The full message reads "We are tracking you as a possible Cheater. Start behaving yourself." and will appear on your screen as a pop-up notification, similar to the bad sport warning. Very often on various forums, social media sites and Reddit, confused players will post questions about this after receiving it — despite not cheating.

Players can get understandably concerned when seeing a warning like this — punishments for cheating in GTA Online can get quite severe, with bans wiping your progress, including all GTA$ and items, and revoking access to the game for a while or even permanently. If you haven't actually done anything wrong, that could be devastating. Think of all the hours of progress lost!

GTA Online has been fighting against hackers and cheaters practically since the moment it went, well, online. With character transfers, script users even managed to wreak havoc on next-gen console lobbies as well as older platforms and PC. Rockstar Games has constantly been updating its anti-cheat, issuing ban waves, and even going after cheat distributors with legal means.

With combating cheaters being an on-going struggle, occasionally reports have surfaced of innocent players being caught in the wide web cast — most often when a hacker in a lobby "drops money" on others. This practice involves the hacker spawning GTA$ pickups near other players, which they automatically collect, adding "dirty money" to their accounts.

This might trip the anti-cheat and dish out a ban to players who are, essentially, victims in all of this. Rockstar currently has a zero-tolerance system in place where these punishments cannot be appealed — likely as a result of the sheer number of players. It might be logistically impossible to handle that many appeals, and sifting through who is actually innocent and who is trying to game the system.

That said, this still isn't good enough, and innocent players shouldn't be punished for others' cheating. It is however important to note that this is very rare, especially these days. Yet the fear remains, which is why many will be concerned when seeing the "possible Cheater" message.

What happens if you are tracked as a possible cheater?

To dispel your fears; you basically do not need to worry. The "possible Cheater" message does not indicate a false positive on the cheat detector, nor is it some kind of automatic warning from the anti-cheat. It is instead an automatic warning that triggers when another player in the lobby reports you for cheating.

This alone is not enough to trigger any kind of anti-cheating punishments; it would be utter chaos if it would, since griefers and other bad sports would abuse and weaponize it. It is an easy system to use reactively; someone has been annoying you, or interfering with your missions, or maybe you just feel like being a prick? Report them for cheating and wipe their progress!

We're all lucky that isn't how things work. Reports vary on whether or not a single report is enough to trigger the warning of if many are needed; either way, server activity logs would be reviewed before any kind of punishment is meted out. Most cheats these days are detected automatically, so reporting is used for new hacks on the block.

What to do if you are tracked as a possible cheater?

Even if you don't do anything, you will very likely see no penalties or issues — however, for the sake of erring on the safe side, players suggest switching lobbies to avoid those who have been reporting you maliciously.

Other suggestions also include having some friends log on and commend you — at face value this action just gives you ammo discounts, and you might be asking how that is relevant. However, commending is also a feature that counteracts Bad Sport, and while being accused of cheating is a few magnitudes above Bad Sport, players assume that reports from other players carry about as much weight.

The point is, you don't really have anything to worry about if you see the "We are tracking you as a possible Cheater" warning, and you don't have to do much against it, either.