Once again, there are penalties for cheaters in Pokémon GO. They can no longer find items in the shop that could help them in the game.
There have been increasing penalties and measures against cheaters in Pokémon GO in recent days and weeks from Niantic. A new type of penalty exists for cheaters in the in-game shop, where one can usually buy incubators, lure modules, or Poké Balls. Those marked as cheaters will find significantly fewer items when they open the shop.
Those who cheat may not buy items
Reddit user TheGoodSpeler noticed comments about shop problems on a Discord server. In the Discord channel that deals with Spoofing, users complained that they could not buy items in the shop. With their accounts marked as “cheaters,” they can only buy coins. In the following screenshot, you can see how the shop is displayed for cheater accounts:
The affected players on the Discord server are unsure which type of cheat is responsible for the items no longer being displayed.
Measures against cheaters are increasing
For a long time, cheaters could roam around Pokémon GO without punishment. Now the developers at Niantic are introducing more and more features aimed at cheaters.
Just a few days ago, it was noted that recognized cheaters or bots can no longer see rare Pokémon. This means that live maps affected by this change will only display common Pokémon, making them less valuable for spoofers. The missing items in the shop are already the second step against cheaters within a week.
Fewer cheaters in gyms from now on?
Why this particular measure is effective against cheaters becomes clearer at a second glance. The lack of purchase options in the shop makes the coins of cheaters useless. There are therefore fewer reasons for cheaters to teleport to and occupy many gyms because they can no longer make use of the coin rewards. This, of course, presumes that the accounts have also been identified by the game as cheaters. So far, mainly bot accounts are affected.
To better identify these cheaters and ensure that spoofers are also affected by these changes, a new cheat detection could help. Niantic has a job posting that might achieve something in this direction.
Even though not all cheaters are affected by this anti-cheater measure yet, but mainly bot accounts, this is another step in the right direction.
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