World's biggest game-cheat operation ends as Tencent and police team up

Tencent Holdings teams up with Chinese police to put an end to what seems to be the "world's biggest video game cheating operation".

Tencent and police team up

Cheat makers busted?

Apparently, cheating in online games Call of Duty Mobile and Overwatch has become rampant nowadays as a Gang created and sold cheats to players to gain an unfair advantage. This Gang was able to earn about USD 76 million (around PHP 3.69 billion) from its illegal operation upon charging customers for subscriptions.

During the operation, the Chinese police confiscated assets amounting to USD 46 million (around PHP 2.2 billion), including multiple luxury vehicles. The illegal signatures were sold on a website known as "Chicken Drumstick". It charged its players anywhere from USD 10 a day to USD 200 per month. Based on the statement of the Chinese press, these users are spread through "hundreds of countries and regions". Ten Members of the crime gang have been apprehended.

This is an important action to combat cheating in online games. To others, it may seem harmless but for the likes of Tencent Holdings, it is detrimental for them as the company moves millions of dollars in eSports tournaments prizes and live broadcasts.  

Tencent is a Chinese Conglomerates and is a pioneer to many online games across the globe and they are constantly pushing the industry forward. It's not surprising that they will be involved with the police operation after all they're the company that felt the damage dealt by the Cheat seller gang.

A few months ago Activision banned thousands of cheaters for Call of Duty Warzone and Black Ops. The most frequent cheats being used by players is the so-called "aimbot", a system that gives an unfair advantage and allows a no-miss shooting without having to manually target your enemies. Another infamous cheat is called "wallhack" which lets its user see the location of other players in the game and shoot enemies through opaque objects like walls, crates, etc. Other cheats make the user be invisible all throughout the game and win by default, or allowing them to heal endlessly.

In competitive games like battle royale such as PUBG, Free Fire, Call of Duty, these hacks are commonly used. The publisher behind these games is constantly working on ways to enhance security and catch cheaters. Tencent is also the business behind PUBG mobile as well as its presence in a slew of other mobile games. The Chinese conglomerate is also preparing for its entrance to Console Stage where it has better Systems for anti-cheating. 

However, as systems for antie cheating becomes better, more experienced hackers will try to exploit it by creating a more advanced cheat thus, it will be a never-ending battle. 

Source: BBC