Red Dead Online Is Apparently Infested With Hackers

There are some mischievous modders on the loose in Red Dead Online. They have been randomly targeting players to the point that the word "hacker" comes to mind. Worried about getting all your money stolen? Being attacked by swarms of bears? Worry not, because Rockstar is apparently on the case.

It was only a matter of time before the prolific, and sometimes infamous, mod community migrated from GTA Online to Red Dead Online. As they have for years on the Los Santos streets, these modders are sewing some serious chaos by spawning things at random. Rather than cars and NPCs, Red Dead Online modders are making random boats spawn from the sky and bears show up in places that bears and boats shouldn't be.

All fun and games, right? Not so much. These spawns — weather, cannons, and creatures — effect everyone in the lobby. One particularly sinister mod drains other players' cash, one dollar at a time. Not cool. These modders are playing god, and a capricious, kind of evil one at that. What is Rockstar doing about it?

Usually cease-and-desist letters do the trick, but Rockstar isn't afraid to take modders to court. In the past, Rockstar's parent company, Take-Two, has sued cheating modders, targeting a paid GTA Online mod called Evolve to the tune of $500,000 in damages. Rockstar hasn't said anything about legal action against these Red Dead Online modders, but it has broken out the ban hammer. 

Apparently Rockstar has put considerable effort into trying to find and ban these cheaters. Players have reported that pages upon pages of players have been banned under suspicion of using mods. Maybe this means we'll see less videos of random bear packs lumbering through Saint Denis or macabre tricks like carcasses engulfing unsuspecting players. The world of the wild west is already chaotic enough without these godlike hackers running around like outlaws.