[Update] Players Glitching Grand Theft Auto Online To Obtain Huge Sums Of Money

Update: Rockstar has updated its support page to more clearly deal with the issue of users glitching Grand Theft Auto Online to artificially inflate their bank accounts. The short version is that you won't get bumped into the cheater pool if you weren't doing anything wrong.

"To keep the gameplay environment as fair as possible for legitimate players, we routinely do sweeps to separate out cheaters and modders, and to reverse any illegitimate transactions," Rockstar writes. "These sweeps are based on in-game automated detection, examination of suspicious gameplay statistics, and also manually-reviewed evidence submitted by the Community.  If you were not engaged in any willful cheating or exploiting yourself, you do not need to worry about getting caught up in our work to separate out cheaters from the rest of the population."

Thanks to reader Marty for pointing us toward Rockstar's response.

Original Story:

This seems ripped from an episode of “What Would You Do?” According to a number of users in Rockstar’s forums, Grand Theft Auto: Online glitchers on both Xbox Live and PlayStation Network are dumping enormous amounts of money on unsuspecting players.

The bug has been reported by a number of players in a variety of threads in the Rockstar forums. Additionally, a cursory search online revealed videos explaining how to glitch the game to duplicate cars that can be sold for huge sums.

Users have been alerting Rockstar about the matter, though a fix has not yet been implemented. “I got even more scared because I didn't want to go to the cheater pool or something for something I am not guilty from,” user “oswaldoea” writes. “So I just left, and stayed on my apartment while sending you again emails with the photos. After that I decided to play with another character so I can play normally and spend my money that I have in my bank, now in this new character, I received money again!”

Especially if the in-game funds were acquired through a glitch that involves the purchase of GTA$ with real cash, innocent users could be caught in a ban sweep. Microsoft and Sony frown upon theft, and if a user is found to be in receipt of illicit in-game currency, it could cost the user his/her account. We've reached out to Rockstar for comment.

Thanks to the multiple readers who submitted this tip.

[Source: Rockstar Support (1), (2)]

Our Take
Now that GTA Online is up and stable, it’s a shame that there are those actively looking to ruin the experience for everyone they come into contact with. If someone tries to give you money that is clearly ill-gotten, it’s best to take a picture, get the user name of the person involved, and contact Rockstar. You don’t want to get banned for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.