Pokémon GO update trolls cheaters with common monsters

Pokémon GO developer Niantic has discovered an insidious new way to ruin a cheater’s day: give them stuff they don’t want.

First spotted by the Pokémon GO subreddit The Silph Road, the changes rolled out last weekend. This new approach flags a cheater’s account, “shadowbanning” them so that they can still play — they’ll just only be able to see common Pokémon.

Scanners show Pokémon GO players where rare monsters are, to save some the trouble of long searches on foot. Using third-party software is against Niantic’s terms of service, and in the past it has just banned cheaters’ accounts en masse.

The Silph Road’s users say no one is sure what causes the flag, but they are sure it’s only a matter of time before a workaround is devised.