Today it became known about a wave of bans that swept across the GTA community due to errors in anti-cheat. The Twitter account GTAO Status Bot showed that Rockstar made a couple of changes to the game code this night - they fixed one of the bugs with duping cars, several lines of Hotring racing code, and, apparently, made changes to the anti-cheat. The first reports about the ban were made yesterday evening, but they were not given much attention - unfortunately, there are already a lot of violators in GTA Online. But then, the number of bans increased and increased, which aroused suspicion. Now the first page of discussions in the game section on Steam looks like this:

How do you know if a character has been hit by a wave of bans?

According to some players, their accounts are blocked even if they are not currently in the game. Since it is undesirable to enter the game now, you can find out the fate of your account in another way.

Update from 21:53 Moscow time: on the game page on Steam, the game has been assigned the tag “Moddable”. The community seems to be hinting;

Update from 23:40 Moscow time: the German support unit responded to the user’s question about the unreasonable ban (translation completed):

Thank you very much for contacting Rockstar Games support regarding your GTA Online ban.

As for the ban itself: your account is under control. No additional input is required on your part. information or actions. You will be notified immediately if you are unbanned. Please note that we make no guarantee that your request will be processed in the order in which it is received.

This issue will be closed. As written above, we will contact you if there is news for you.

Best wishes,

Rockstar Games support.

The first known response from Rockstar to date that makes any sense.

Update from March 25, 7:21 Moscow time: the situation is not getting better - people are still complaining about getting a ban, one user even bought a new account, logged into GTA Online and just walked around one place. He was banned after 1 hour and 32 minutes.
--Insider Yan2295 wrote that there is no point in contacting support:

-As for this massive wave of bans, there is no point in creating a complaint with Rockstar support now, since this is what happens to them (if changes have not been made to the system since then):
-description: this is a complaint about a bath;
-priority: low;
-status: closed;

In the meantime, YouTube already has tons of videos on this topic;

The game's Steam page continues to be filled with angry reviews - for March 24, the number of negative reviews was 1530, for 25 at the time of writing the news - 286. By the way, in July 2017, the number of negative reviews reached a record high of 45,889;

Update from 13:18 Moscow time: some players claim that bans bring some kind of a cheat menu that cheaters use and somehow use anti-cheat on players. This version is refuted by complaints from players who received a ban while in closed sessions or doing business with friends;

Shares, meanwhile, have fallen in price - due to the fall in the rating of GTA V on Steam and the withdrawal of funds from those who bought the game shortly before the ban;

On the Rockstar support forum, they report communication with support agents - as support agents say, according to users, any influence of third-party programs on the game is considered a violation of the rules of the game - in particular, the use of TeamSpeak, Discord and many other services. It is unclear whether Steam overlays for Steam versions of GTA V are subject to this ban;

Some users blame Rockstar for the fact that this wave of bans did not happen by accident, but, combined with a 50% discount on the game on Steam, is aimed at increasing sales of the game. There are still no official statements regarding what happened;

Critically important!

-Update from 13:55 Moscow time: according to the Twitter bot,

ONE YEAR LATER. February 2019

I was very surprised when the topic of bans in GTA Online is discussed a year later.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KWkyrj8Hkk
I was just watching another video and then I see familiar text in the video.

It's sad to see that your favorite game is turning (it has long since turned) into a trash heap. The topic is no longer new, GTA Online is dying. And last year’s mass ban is proof of this. You can follow the chronology of those events below.

Let's start with the main thing. On the night of March 23-24, there was a huge number of messages about players being banned from GTA Online. Twitter account GTAO Status Bot confirms that Rockstar made a couple of changes to the game code this night - they fixed one of the bugs with duping cars, several lines of Hotring racing code, and, apparently, made changes to the anti-cheat. Players from all over the world are complaining that the ban was unfair. Some are banned for a month, while others remain banned forever. The unfortunate message comes to me too

So, having received the coveted ban, how could I live without it before, I rushed to write to technical support. As expected, the bot answered me that the ban cannot be appealed, this is the company’s policy.
A little later, apparently not quite a bot answered me, but the answer was similar
Hello!
Thank you for contacting Rockstar Support regarding your ban appeal.
Regarding questions about account ban appeals, bans in GTA Online are issued based on several factors, including modding, exploits and interference with game mechanics, manipulation of proprietary game information or code, or other attempts to interfere with gameplay.
All temporary and permanent bans in GTA Online are final and cannot be appealed. You can read more about the account blocking policy in the article at the following link: .
This application will be closed. As stated above, we will contact you if we require additional information.
Sincerely,
Rockstar Support
Everything is clear and concise - no one will give me reasons. Anyway. So I went to the forums. There are a lot of people on the Rockstar forum from the states and Spain who write that they were undeservedly banned. I was banned while I was alone in the session. I wanted to buy a sniper rifle... damn it I bought it.
Of course, people say that a similar situation happened in 2017. Now everything has flown to known places after the update.

Important update

Here insiders provided information. To get to the truth, we had to act outside the box. Since the developers themselves cannot give a clear answer, I’ll ask the cheaters for an answer.
One of them explained everything to me.

Originally posted by author:

Hello. Can you tell me more about the essence of this problem?
Maxim 18:23
Well, that means there’s not much to tell.
In the dead of night, Rockstars unexpectedly updated their anti-cheat system.
Neither the creators of cheats, nor those who installed mods, nor anyone else were simply prepared for such a development of fate.
Anticheat dealt with everyone like wild fire, sparing no one or anything in its path. It doesn’t matter whether it was mods for some red sky, cheats, or overlays. All interference in the game was detected. And they were immediately cut off at the root.
The telemetry ban system was immediately corrected. If previously someone had notes in the host files to prohibit tracking actions on the account, now they hardly work, and they also render the game inoperable.
Yes, the developers clearly tried their best. How many hours have already passed, and the sessions are clear, few private users were able to bypass the protection in such a short period of time. And all sorts of infernus or Jordan's menu - there's nothing to say there. Just condolences to their owners, who forever went into the abyss of the ban.
Well, of course, triggering on honest players is not excluded. This is Rockstar. Your processor temperature is higher than normal - permanent ban
if in fact I didn’t use anything at all that could interfere with the game, then this must be quite offensive.

To confirm my words - notifications on one closed forum.

At the time of editing the situation is as follows:

It is known that the wave of bans only affected the PC audience of the game;

Rockstar support shows no attempts to sort out the problems - when complaining about a ban, players still receive an automatic response from the bot;

Apparently Rockstar support does not intend to actively deal with this incident. An informant named Yan2295 revealed the following not very pleasant information. Parameters for automatically sorting requests in Rockstar support are indicated. In Russian they will sound like this:

“description”: “this is a complaint about a ban. \n",
"priority": "low"
"status": "closed"

All this means that contacting support in the near future is useless.

New ones are still coming from players - some bought the game just recently and received a ban.

It's sad to see how some are looking for a solution to the problem and trying to figure it out, while others are riveting the review

Now let’s all spread the hashtag and sign the petition. Yes, someone will say that this is all an empty phrase, but we should not give up so easily. We have 30 days to change everything)

The dude gets banned right during the stream -
One determined user was willing to provide Rockstar with 42 hours of video evidence that he played fair.

Situation as of March 25, 2018

Technical support answered me again.

Originally posted by author:

Hello Gradus0FF,

Your account is temporarily suspended from GTA Online. Your suspension expiration date is shown on the splash screen after being returned to Story Mode following an attempt to play online. In addition to being suspended, all GTA Online characters, progress, and inventory on PC will be reset. Any funds purchased via Shark Cards have been preserved and are still available on your account.
The next infraction on your account will result in a permanent ban from GTA Online.
GTA Online bans are triggered by a number of factors, including modding in GTA Online, exploiting or abusing game mechanics, manipulating protected game data and code, or otherwise interfering with other players’ gameplay experience.
All GTA Online suspension and banning decisions are final and may not be appealed. For more information on the GTA Online Suspension and Ban Policy please see.
Best regards,
Vernon V.
Rockstar Support

The main thing that is clear from this is that any funds purchased through Shark cards are stored and are still available in your account.
This, of course, pleases those who invested money in payment cards, but this goes without saying.

I also talked with one of the users. He received a permanent ban. But when I entered the Social Club via mobile phone, I saw that his online character was active. Here

To confirm that lifting the ban is possible, the user provided letters from Rockstar.
We believe, we hope, we wait.

Many resources report that the same line TURNON_AC_HOTRING has been removed from Tunables, which apparently caused a furious ban, an error in the anti-cheat and tons of negativity towards the developers. Many are already ready to return to the game again. And banned users hope for Rockstar's loyalty. If no one cancels the ban, after a month users will return to the game and will shy away from every freeze, because you never know whether you will receive an eternal ban or not.

As you would expect, Rockstar's anti-cheat still marks everyone as a modder after the changes.

Andrezzu
Better write!!!

Hi all!!!
Here is my correspondence with Rockstar technical support.
Question:
StepanRazin Wednesday at 19:39

Good day, 05/02/2015 received a letter by e-mail about what I was forbidden entry into the gta 5 online,
mods and cheats tembolee nor any not used. What is the reason to ban my account?
Then, after the transition to the single plate out on the mini-map on which the lock is released 05/16/2015. And how then the lock can be removed earlier? or still wait until 05/16/2015?
DxDiag.txt (40 KB)
MSinfo.nfo (1 MB)
Nameless.jpg (40 KB)
Demo1
Answer:
Kenneth_P_1356 Thursday at 01:07
Hello StepanRazin,
Thank you for contacting Rockstar Support
We are sorry to hear that you are having a problem related to banning in GTA Online.
To keep the gameplay environment as fair as possible for legitimate players, we routinely do sweeps to separate out cheaters and modders, and to reverse any illegitimate transactions. These sweeps are based on in-game automated detection, examination of suspicious gameplay statistics, and also manually-reviewed evidence submitted by the Community. If you were not engaged in any willful cheating or exploiting yourself, you do not need to worry about getting caught up in our work to separate out cheaters from the rest of the population.
If you believe that you have been banned in error, and you would like to try to appeal your ban, please supply the following information:
The Date of Birth, as displayed on your Social Club Account:
The approximate date you were banned:
A brief description of any events you believe led up to your ban alert:
Please confirm the following information
Your platform (Console): PC
Your Social Club Nickname: StepanRazin
The email address associated with your Social Club Account: [email protected]
If you would like to provide feedback about the banning system, please email [email protected]. We appreciate any input you have about ways to improve the system.
Best regards,
Kenneth P.
Rockstar Support
Question answer:
StepanRazin Today at 11:45
Good day!!!
Thanks for the reply, has already passed the week as I was banned.
the only question in my persanazh GTA online stay with my level and my honest zarabotanye money, an apartment and a single machine. Or is it all zeroed?
I think I got banned for using online Trainer in a single, but how does it relate to online?

TRANSLATION

StepanRazin Wednesday at 19:39
Good afternoon, on 05/02/2015 I received an email stating that I was banned from entering GTA 5 online,
Mods and cheats are especially not used. What is the reason to ban my account?
Then, after moving to one plate from on the mini-map, on which the lock is removed on 05/16/2015. How then can the lock be removed earlier? or wait until 05/16/2015?
DxDiag.txt (40 KB)
MSinfo.nfo (1 MB)
Nameless.jpg (40 KB)
Demo1

Kenneth_P_1356 Thursday at 1:07
Hello StepanRazin,
Thanks for Rockstar Support
We're sorry you're experiencing issues with bans in GTA Online.
To keep the gameplay environment as fair as possible for legitimate players, we routinely make sure to highlight cheaters and modders, and cancel any illegal transactions. These sweeps are based on in-game automated detection, inspection of suspicious gameplay statistics, and manual review of evidence submitted to the community. If you have not engaged in any deliberate deception or exploitation of yourself, you do not need to worry about being caught in our work to separate scammers from the rest of the population.
If you believe you have been banned in error and you would like to try to appeal the ban, please provide the following information:
Date of birth as shown on Social Club account:
Estimated date you were banned:
A brief description of any events believed to have led to your readiness ban:
Please check the following information
Your platform (console): PC
Your Social Club Nick: StepanRazin
Email address associated with your Social Club Account: [email protected]
If you would like to provide feedback on a system ban, please write [email protected]. We appreciate any input you have on how to improve the system.
Sincerely,
Kenneth R.
Rockstar support

StepanRazin Today at 11:45
Good afternoon!!!
Thanks for the answer, it's already been two weeks since I was banned.
The only question is, for my persanazh GTA online stay with my level and my honest zarabotanye of money, an apartment and one car. Or is it all reset?
I think I was banned for using a trainer in single player, but how does that apply online?

They regularly update and improve the game on different platforms, but here and now we will focus on Rockstar Games’ policy regarding blocking user accounts of the computer version of the game.

Ban in GTA Online: causes and consequences

Cheaters online

First, as expected, a little history. The problem with bans exists in many online games and the only question is what measures the developers take against users.

It's no secret that the number of cheaters on different gaming platforms can vary significantly. As a clear example, you can log into a GTA Online session on any of the consoles (PlayStation 3, PS4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One) and PC. The likelihood that you will encounter a flying car and an invulnerable driver in GTA 5 online mode on PlayStation 4 or Xbox One is close to zero, while on the computer there is now a cheater playing in every third session.

The cheater in the car fell right onto the yacht.

Not all cheaters cause discomfort during the game (they can simply visually replace some textures or models for personal use), but there are also those that grossly interfere with the mechanics of free mode events (for example, teleporting to various objects, using invulnerability, etc.) .

Since the release of Grand Theft Auto Online, the situation has gradually escalated, and cheaters have become more and more impudent and interfered with normal play not only in free mode, but also during confrontations, story missions, robberies, commandos and races.

By the way, do you already have GTA 5? If not, then you can play GTA Online for free right now with all the additions from Rockstar Games.

A solution to the problem with cheaters has been found

In 2016, there was an important change in the rules and they became really serious, which began to have a positive impact on the consciousness of players.

From now on, immediately after issuing the first ban, which previously was only a warning, the cheater’s entire game progress was reset and the balance of funds in the account was reset to zero. For a repeated violation, a month later, you receive a “letter of happiness” with a lifelong account block. After this, it will never be possible to log into GTA Online from a suspended Social Club account.

Answers to questions and comments from players

Question: Is it possible to get unbanned?

Answer: If you politely ask, beg, or even offer to pay money, your account will not be unblocked. There is simply no such function.

Question: I was blocked by mistake, where can I complain?

Answer: According to Rockstar, there can be no mistakes. All decisions are made final and are not subject to revision. Even if the ban was issued by an automated system, there is no point in writing to a person from the technical support service, since a standard template answer will be given.

Question: I paid money for the game. Can they be returned?

Answer: If you delve into the legal formalities, then you bought (or received as a gift) Grand Theft Auto V, and GTA Online is a free bonus. The difference is that no one is depriving you of access to the plot of GTA 5 and you can safely complete tasks with Michael, Franklin or Trevor even if you do not have an Internet connection and access to GTA Online.

Question: I was tricked. Why is the world so cruel and unfair?

Answer: There were cases when money literally fell from the sky on players. Of course, the GTA game functionality does not provide for this and this is the tricks of one of the other players. Don't just stand there and wait for the money shower to end. As quickly as possible, go to the main menu and select "Find New Session". If there are two of you in a session or there is irrefutable evidence of cheating on the part of a specific player, then you can use the built-in “Report a cheater” functionality.

Submit a complaint

In real life, you can also encounter similar situations when you, at first glance, did nothing wrong, but in the end made the wrong decision. For example, an ATM gave you a bill of 5,000 rubles instead of 500 rubles. If you do not contact the bank in time, you may be subject to criminal liability for embezzlement of someone else's property.

Question: I have bad/slow internet and other players often call me a cheater. Can I be blocked?

Answer: The fact is that interfering with other players is also a violation of the rules. If you are playing a skirmish, confrontation, race or any other competitive mode, then due to a weak Internet connection you may not be displayed correctly on the screen of the enemy players and your team. There are times when laggy players cannot be killed or they let their own team down. In this case, a large number of users can simultaneously submit a complaint about the violation. We advise you to check yours and compare it with the minimum requirements.

Question: Where can I see the reason for the ban?

Answer: The reason for blocking can only be a violation of the rules. Which one has not yet been specified, since the list itself is not publicly available. No one will tell you a certain type of violation and for reasonable reasons. Don't wait for the name of the cheating program or the location and type of violation.

Question: Will there be an amnesty for violators for the New Year?

Answer: In 2017 there will be no amnesties for cheaters. Perpetual blocking will remain in effect.

Play honestly and everything will be fine, good luck!

If you are faced with a problem such as blocking an online game in GTA 5, then this is definitely the place for you. There can be many reasons for a ban in GTA 5, among the popular ones: a ban for using cheats and bugs in GTA 5. Oddly enough, but no less popular is an erroneous ban.

How to find out the account blocking period?

Of course, after blocking your account, you will receive an email notification indicating the blocking period. But, as a rule, the data from the letter is not always correct. How to find out the real one duration of ban in GTA 5 online? More on this below.

Go to a single player game, load the client for any of the missions and look at the mini-map. A message will be displayed near the mini-map indicating the period for canceling the blocking. These dates are the most reliable.

How to unban GTA 5

There is only one solution - contact RockStar technical support. As mentioned earlier, bans can be completely unreasonable and erroneous, and contacting support will help you remove restrictions prematurely.

In the event of a real violation, you can try to find a compromise and explain the current situation. There have been cases of premature blocking after competent communication with GTA 5 technical support.

How to avoid a ban in GTA?

You want to quickly develop your GTA account, but the only option that comes to your mind is cheating. This is a bad option, since there is currently a proven .