While Epic Games combats the efforts of Fortnite cheaters, Grand Theft Auto V publisher Take-Two Interactive is taking on its own community of ne’er do wells in a similar fashion. The company, along with GTA developer Rockstar Games, successfully lobbied the Australian federal court to freeze all the GTA cheat developer’s assets, including digital and cryptocurrency holdings, of five individuals that are reportedly behind the popular “Infamous” Grand Theft Auto V cheat engine.
According to TorrentFreak, the suspects, identified as Christopher Anderson, Cycus Lesser, Sfinktah, Koroush Anderson, and Koroush Jeddian, also had their homes and computers searched by investigators for any evidence related to the production of the mod engine last month.
The freeze order and searches came as a result of a lawsuit filed by Rockstar and Take-Two last month in Australian federal court against the “Infamous” developers for copyright infringement. The suit is the latest effort in Take-Two’s long history of suppressing Grand Theft Auto V cheat engines. The publisher has successfully shut down and banned multiple GTA Online cheat services, including American mod dealer David Zipperer, in recent years.
The popular mod software allows players to perform such benign actions as teleportation and flying. It also allows players to fully modify every environment, both online and offline, within the game and generate large amounts of GTA Online’s in-game currency out of thin air, a clear threat to the company’s business model for the game’s successful online mode. The “Infamous” software has not been readily available for purchase since its website went down in March, but many who purchased it did so with the promise of a “lifetime membership.”
The initial freeze was set to expire soon after the searches, but a follow-up order extended the asset freeze indefinitely. The suspects are expected to file a defense in Australian federal court soon.
