INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Image copyrightPUBG CorporationImage caption
The game is won by the player who survives the longest
Chinese police have arrested 15 people suspected of creating cheat programs for the popular Player Unknown Battleground (PUBG) game.The
cheats helped people survive longer, aim more accurately and spot foes in the competitive shooting game.The 15 suspects have also been fined
and sold the programs.News about the arrests was posted to the PUBG forum pages on the Steam game network by Ryan Rigney, a spokesman for
the PUBG Corporation that makes the game.In that post, Mr Rigney said the action against the gang was part of the company's efforts to
Mr Rigney said "major suspects" were arrested during the raid
They have been charged with developing, hosting and selling the hacking programs,Some local Chinese newspapers suggest the gang made more
than 30m yuan from selling a variety of cheating programs
PUBG is hugely popular in China and almost half of its players live there.In some cases, said Mr Rigney, the cheat programs also contained
malicious code that scanned users' PCs looking for login names, passwords and other confidential data."Using illegal programs not only
disrupts others, but can end up with you handing over your personal information," he said
More people linked to the gang are still being investigated, he said, adding that PUBG had recently updated its game to help spot when
cheating software was being used."The ultimate goal is to create an environment for players that's completely safe from hackers and
cheaters," he wrote.In early 2018, a joint operation between Chinese police and tech firm Tencent, which promotes PUBG in the country, led
to the arrest of 120 people suspected of making cheats
