Twelve people have gotten themselves into hot water with police in China over allegedly selling hacks for the Chinese version of PUBG Mobile. As translated and reported by Abacus, the group used Bitcoin to purchase the cheats from “overseas personnel” before going on to sell them to Peacekeeper Elite players. Kunshan police say the business is worth up to $15 million, which makes me question what I’m doing with my life.
The hacks themselves are relatively standard. The cheats give players the ability to see people through walls and hit as many headshots as they please through the use of an aimbot, which is particularly brutal given it’s a mobile FPS game. The punishment is currently unclear if the group is found guilty, but people have been fined for similar offences. As Abacus further points out, two men were given a one-year prison sentence and a $2,833 fine for creating Honor of Kings hacks.
If you’re unaware, Peacekeeper Elite is Tencent’s Chinese version of PUBG Mobile. Despite initially being available in China, the battle royale game was modified and re-released under a different name to satisfy China’s censorship restrictions. Peacekeeper still looks just like PUBG Mobile, from character models to general graphic texts. In this version, though, there is no blood or gore, and words like ‘kill’ are swapped to non-violent alternatives like ‘defeat’.
It appears that PUBG Mobile hacks aren’t just limited to China, however. A glance at the game’s unofficial Subreddit page reveals several complaints from players in the last few hours alone. There’s even a specific post flare designed to report accounts of cheating.
5th time today getting killed by a cheater 🤦🏽♂️ so annoying from PUBGMobile
We’ve reached out for more information and will update this story if we hear back. In the meantime, though, you can check out our PUBG Mobile update guide for more up-to-date information on what’s going on. We even have a guide on the best multiplayer mobile games if you fancy something different.