Recently, large amounts of GTA Dollars from players have been removed by RockStar under the guise of a "correction". A large number of players have found themselves affected by this, and have subsequently been reporting this on social media and in support tickets. One reason this may have happened is that Hackers sometimes spawn in extra money not only for themselves but for others as well. Throughout GTA Online's life cycle, RockStar has on several occasions removed cash from players they deemed had illicitly gained them. The only problem is, the large majority of the players hit in this case are those who haven't cheated at all.
GTA Online sports the feature where the games' own currency serves as both a premium currency that can also be reliably earned through the games' own missions and activities. Because players can't actually give each other money, doing these missions or buying Shark Cards for real money are the only two legitimate methods of earning more. In return, this currency can be used to purchase access to all of the DLC. However, Hackers have been an undying plague that RockStar, despite numerous efforts, have failed to eradicate. Every time a ban wave happens, it doesn't take very long for them to return.
One of the worst outcomes may have occurred when the systems RockStar implemented to counter these illicitly gained dollars, may be responsible for affecting legitimate players. Reports keep surfacing on various social media of players who have worked hard on earning their millions through legitimate means only, stressing that their cash did not surface from any modded means. One possible explanation is that the automated anti-cheat system reacted on a false positive, created when the double cash week started for players utilizing the Import/Export business for quick profit. Though when we look at the various numbers involved, it seems incredibly unlikely that it alone is to blame, as some affected users have had several millions of GTA$ taken away that could only be legitimately garnered through months of grinding. One week of double cash would not be sufficient to attain the numbers they've lost.
The images that users have posted of the adjustment match in style those that have been seen in the past for cash adjustments due to hacks or other situations. If this happened due to the anti-cheat it is especially ironic, considering there have been various reports of actual hackers and players with hacked money stating that their balances have been left untouched.
Most threads on social media regarding this issue advise that the best thing affected players can do is file a support ticket, and reply to it again if they receive an automated response.
We have reached out to RockStar and parent company Take-Two for comment and will update this story if we learn more.
Update: RockStar got back to us, directing us to a support page where they have answered the question here. The response there reads as this:
Question: Why did I have money removed from my bank account or my rank adjusted in GTA Online?Answer: We are aware of cheaters who are manipulating the in-game funds and RP levels for themselves and other players in GTA Online. In an effort to create a fair gameplay environment for all players, we routinely perform security sweeps for any illegitimately gained GTA$ and/or adjusted RP levels. Players who have had their accounts affected should see corrections being made. GTA$ purchased via Shark Cards will remain on the account and are not affected by illegitimately gained in-game money removal.
