Update: It would seem that the ban has been lifted this morning, with Proximus confirming that a security issue was indeed to blame.
Original story: Niantic has been stepping up its game when it comes to banning people in Pokémon GO. It would seem there are quite a few ways of "cheating" the popular smartphone app, from using trackers to pinpoint 'mon to using other, more drastic measures and fiendish tactics.
However, if a recent story is indeed true, it would seem that Niantic has gone to extreme lengths to enforce its bans and has locked out Belgium's biggest mobile network provider to an attempt to shut down one such ploy.
The story goes like this. Late last week a Redditor on /r/pokemongodev - a community devoted to developing "bot" programs for use in the game - stated that they intended to test a theory on IP bans. This individual claims to have used a set of "burner" SIM cards to execute thousands of scans of the Pokemon Go servers. Because mobile phones were used, these scans all came from a single IP address - the one used by the cell phone company Proximus.
The initial test apparently proved that running the scans through the network's national IP address potentially grants total access to the Pokémon GO servers, but Niantic quickly spotted the move and shut it down - thereby banning every single user who uses Proximus's cell coverage to access the game.
The twist in this tale is that the same Redditor then stated that they hadn't actually gone through with the plan, and that someone on the /r/pokemongodev board must have tipped Niantic off, leading to a pre-emptive ban of the Proximus network. While some are questioning the validity of this claim, one thing is for sure - Proximus users can't play Pokémon GO - at the moment, anyway. Whether or not this is due to the alleged plan is currently unknown.
This isn't the first time that an entire nation has been prevented from playing the game by cheaters - the launch in Brazil and Latin America was curtailed by the presence of bots and third-party apps - and it shows the immense size of the issue Niantic is attempting to deal with.
[source comicbook.com]
Comments 10
This article is not up to date. The ban has already been lifted. Proximus approached Niantic and they solved the issue.
@Zoriam Can you point me to the source of this? I can't find any reference online to the ban being lifted, but will gladly update the article if that is indeed the case.
@Tsurii Thanks, I've updated the story.
@Damo "Late last week a Redditor on /r/pokemongodev - a community devoted to developing "bot" programs for use in the game"
They develop things for Pokemon Go yes. But if you look at their rules on the side bar they are very anti bots. "Don't Post: Automated Bots: If a user can level up without playing the game, it's not allowed. Any violations will result in an immediate ban."
I believe the botting community you might be looking for is r/pokemongobotting/ instead. I don't use or encourage the use of bots though FYI.
I'd only see the point in banning people if it affects other players negatively, otherwise I don't really see the point. I mean, obviously it probably all just comes down to money at the end of the day, but that's really a case of pure corporate greed causing a lot of stupid problems for many users just to ensure they can monetise all users imo. I say fish the whales, as is par for the course with these types of Apps, and let other people play how they want to play. Because it's all getting a bit stupid at this point. But hey, I don't know anything about how all this works beyond the most basic stuff, so there may be a much bigger issue here that I'm not really aware of.
More Pokemon news to come
@Kirk oh yes, hackers filling gyms with 3000+ Dragonites all over the world from their chairs isn't a problem
As much as I'm against hacking, Niantic seem to be going a bit over the top with their efforts to discourage it, as this is the second time that they've attempted to put hacking/modding in a negative light before they have any reason to do so.
The first time was with the trackers being blocked, which Niantic claimed was what solved the server problems... even though the actual block did not come until a few days later, once the server problems had already ended.
Now this time I get the feeling that they were planning to claim that the hack had been the cause of the ban, and not them... but as the hack never happened they've been forced to pass it off as pre-emptive action.
@Wendigo Well, like I said, I don't know exactly what the issues are. I thought it was just people going out and cheating to collect all the Pokemon quickly that seem to be getting banned left, right, and centre—which, for me, I'm just like "So what; let them cheat to get the Pokemon early if they really want to. They're kinda only ruining the game for themselves."—but guess not.
So sad... those silly cheaters are only cheating themselves. A game looses all attraction when you don't play by the rules, whether it's Monopoly or Pokémon Go.
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