Why does Niantic do nothing about blatant cheaters?
Thanks to those who are able to read this whole message, it's fairly lengthy, but I did put a lot of time and thought into this so all feedback is appreciated...
Honestly guys, I don't know what else to do. I'm getting desperate and hoping maybe someone will see/read this that can help. In my part of town, there is a hardcore "in your face" gps spoofer named Rhlieu who just spoofs to this local gym all day and kicks out all players not on his Valor team. He's far from being "shy" about it, anyone can catch him doing it, and almost all of us have. Most players in our part of town are mystic (even though most of the major city we're a suburb of is Valor) and a handful are instinct. Many of us have reported him (we're all in a group chat). We also do our best to make it as difficult for him as possible, including training it up to level 10 every single night. But either way, he always "wins" (hate saying a cheater wins) because it takes him no time and energy to spoof to that gym every morning, day and night to take it down from his couch, or wherever he actually is. We've been dealing with him for over 7 months now and I just don't get why it's allowed. Why do all of us active and fair playing players have to "compete" with this big time cheater? We take our time, effort, potions and physical energy (or gas for those who drive) to GO (I mean "GO" is actually in the name of the game for Christ sake!) take a gym and then lose it 2 seconds later to some cheater who is never actually there. He has to be the worst there is, really. I get that Niantic doesn't want to lose players. But for real, why not ban one lousy cheater instead of losing all the other fair players? We shouldn't have to deal with this guy, they should. He even spoofed to Japan for the Lapras event which was supposed to be a sort of fundraiser for the area. He's not contributing funds over there if he is spending his money over here, just saying... So as much as PokémonGo is afraid to ban/lose "players"(cheaters), they'll lose a lot more if they don't. Similar to the saying "you gotta spend money to make money". Either way, gps spoofing is ruining the point of the game (ya know, getting out and playing irl) for me and many others. It used to be fun when I thought everyone was playing in person. And I get some people live miles and miles away from a pokestop and such, and I'd probably spoof too if I did, but this is not one of those cases cuz we're in a major city with plenty of pokestops and gyms. He does it to be obnoxious. He wants to control the gym without actually putting in the real effort and going to the gym and controlling it like every other player does. Honestly, if I hadn't (now regrettably) spent hundreds of dollars on this game, I would just let them have their cheaters and quit. Nothing like being a paying customer and being treated like crap.
I doubt anyone has met a gps spoofer this ballsy and pathetic (I truly believe he's the worst there is) but if you have, what did you do? Is there a way to get the player banned? Am I reporting him to the right place (https://support.pokemongo.nianticlabs.com/hc/en-us/requests/new?ticket_form_id=319948)? I'm beyond frustrated because, in case you couldn't tell from the message, Niantic hasn't done a single thing about him for over 7 months now even though it's beyond easy to tell he's cheating and breaking the TOS. Hoping something will finally be done about this guy because I'd like this game to be fun again.
Thanks again for taking your time to read this!
Answers
Make ALL players of the group report him with the same text, make a unique message with screenshots and the exact times we tooks down that gym, say the exact location of the gym on the message, and agree with everyone to send it on the same day, this could help to ban him. The more people you can get to send the exact same report the better.
A part from that if the area is normally full of your team players as you say you could meet with them at a particular time each day, try to build the gym as far as you can and leave all high CP Chansey, that won't stop him but he will hate taking it down again, repeat the process during a week or so, try to see if he gets tired and eventually leaves to another area.
It is not an easy situation, most towns has a big amount of those spoofers, probably not that hardcore, you have been really unlucky because it seems he has no more life that taking down that gym.
There is not much more a part from that you can do, I hope they finally ban him, I wish you the best of luck, I am really waiting for Niantic to ban all of spoofers forever...
that sucks especially since you pay to play. i'm sure if they could figure out a way, they would. Obviously you don't want your paying customers to leave - then you'd just be supporting a non-viable game.
I suppose a different question would be: Is there a way they can determine if you are cheating? I'm sure users can report other users are cheating, but to what avail? I empathize with you but until a solution is found there's really no stopping a cheater from cheating other than trying really hard to deter them. :/
Based on the name of the Pokestop, are you located in ATL?
Rhlieu must live nearby or in the city vincinity. Why else would he pick that gym specifically to take over all the time. If he invests time to take down Level 10 gyms everyday, that's a kind of dedication... I'm not encouraging him btw.
As previous post has mentioned, all u can do is report him in mass and daily. Eventually, Niantic will get to the complaints and he will be banned.
I think the key to "defeat" a player like that is making it so hard for him to control your area that other area's are easier for him to control and he will move away. Use bubblestrat to get gyms to lvl 8 every day and try to kick him off straight away if he claims one. The one with the longest breath Will win. GL
Cheating is in my opinion the biggest reason why people are leaving the game.
Its now so normalised with map-tracking/ sharing accounts & spoofing that i dont really see the way to fix this.
Spoofing is hopefully the thing that tecnically can be solved and banned.
But tracking is in my opinion the bigger problem because its so normalised and the mere lifeline which supports spoofers to collect their rares and destroying the game.
Dont use tracking and actively argue in social media channels and people you meet that its cheating is what i try to do.
20% of the player base spoof according to a survey, i cant even imagine how many cheat by map-tracking!
I had a weird situation like this except….I was on the same team as this spoofer. Every morning at 630 AM on the dot, almost all the gyms in the downtown area of my city were being Taken by this one spoofer (and there was nothing Liam Neeson could do about it). He goes in the same order every day, leaving a spot open in each gym. At first, I didn’t know what spoofing was and wasn’t in these type communities that discussed it so I just thought wow what a great guy! He leaves the spots open and I can just drop off 5-6 mon’ omw to work every morning! So one day I said why don’t I get up a little earlier and meet this guy at the first gym so we can take it down together. I was basically just 20 minutes behind him every day anyway so why not help him since he was always giving me a free spot? I think you can guess what happens next but needless to say, he wasn’t at the first gym as I saw him attacking it….or the second….or the third. That was the day I found out what spoofing was, and I reported him. I got up early the next day and took the same route and took screenshots of him doing this to each gym with a timestamp of each one. My car physically could not go fast enough to keep up with him spoofing so I only got 3 documented but this was enough to get him banned. Food for thought: Would you report a spoofer even if you directly profited from 5-6 free gyms every day?
If you had a group of same team players, I don't see why you can't ALL prestige this gym daily to 50k...stick 10 chaseys in or better yet, Lapras (does more damage) and make him deal with it EVERY SINGLE day.
See if 1 person can beat 5-10. I can prestige pretty quickly and if 5 people do it, you can level 10 it in probably 15 minutes (I can get 10k in about 10 minutes),
If you also have 5 or 10 people, find which gyms he is at and knock him out constantly immediately after he puts one down so he can't spoof somewhere else and take that one...to collect his coins.
Course, who has the time for all that?
I got a spoofer I reported banned by pointing out that they had all the regionals (and were dumb enough to flaunt them in gyms). You can try that. Other than that, just get as much clear evidence as you can I suppose, with date and times, so that Niantic can either back check their movements, or start to monitor them going forward.
Keep reporting with as much details as possible.
In the end, this is a war of attrition, spoofer or not. The most stubborn will prevail. I would keep training up the gym and stuff it with as many good mons as you can. If he truly is a spoofer, he will eventually move on to a less painful destination.
Exactly...if you want this more than him, make him spend 30 minutes or more every time to tear it down...Your 5 guys should be able to take it to 50k prestige in less than 10 minutes actually with 5 people doing it...or if you all live in the area, just everyone do 5k or whatever whenever they can...
Like in my normal errands/job, I pass by a gym and I always tear it down or prestige it up...no loss to me since I am always there anyways (no gas wasted) and usually, I am in line there anyways.
If not, it's 5-10 minutes of your time which is easy if you have a prestige team and high enough level to not worry about potions/revives...(and enough stops).
Gyms have always been easy and more about who wants to waste more time honestly...
For every 1 GPS spoofer allowed to keep playing 4 honest players are quiting. I have been having the same problem for months, I take a gym and I'm gone within the hour, sometimes minutes. I think this trainer has 3 accounts because the last time I was at the Gym and the same 3 trainers and the exact 3 pokemon were back on the gym. I had given them the benefit of the doubt but after that I knew for sure they were cheating. Not only that they are on almost every gym in town, stopping honest players who actually go to gym in person from collecting a few coins. Two trainers I battle gyms with are losing interest and I think they might quit. Something needs to be done.
