Pokemon GO Enforcing Three-Strike Policy for Cheaters

Ever since Pokemon GO came out over two years ago, there have been plenty of cheaters spoofing their location to catch rare Pokemon all over the world or to pretty much get whatever they want, ultimately breaking the game. These cheaters ruin the experience for other folks out there and Pokemon GO developer, Niantic, is attempting to fix this problem by implementing a new three-strike policy that is now in place for cheaters; if offenders continue on the path of cheating, it will lead to them being permanently banned from the game in accordance with the Pokemon GO Terms of Service.

Niantic is actually being very friendly and understanding with their approach that they are now taking with the cheaters. They understand that people can make mistakes, which is why they’re giving players three chances to learn from their mistakes and get back on the path of righteousness to make the Pokemon GO experience fair for everyone. Here’s a detailed outline of what would happen if someone were to go through all three-strikes and the ramifications that would occur:

Strike 1: Warning

Disciplinary actions:
If this strike is issued, you will see a warning message within the Pokémon GO app informing you that we have detected cheating on your account.

In addition to this warning, your gameplay experience may be degraded in the following ways for the duration of the warning:

• You may not be able to encounter rare Pokémon in the wild. These Pokémon may not appear on the map or on the Nearby Pokémon tracker.

• You may be excluded from receiving new EX Raid Passes.

Duration:
This strike will last for approximately 7 days. After this period, your gameplay experience will fully be restored.

Strike 2: Suspension

Disciplinary actions:
If your account is issued a second strike, you will temporarily lose access to your Pokémon GO account. When attempting to log into the game, you’ll be presented with a message stating that your account is suspended. You will not be able to bypass this message.

Duration:
This strike will last for approximately 30 days. After that period, your account access will be restored.

Strike 3: Termination

Disciplinary actions:
If you receive the first and second strikes and continue to cheat, your account will be permanently banned.

Duration:
Permanent

Niantic is even giving people the chance to appeal their punishments, but they reinforce the fact that their detection systems are very good, which means that very few terminations are ever overturned. It’s unfortunate that it might take you a while to get that super-rare Pokemon from Europe or wherever else, but come on guys, don’t cheat – it’s not worth it.