Niantic is cracking down on 'Pokémon Go' cheaters with permanent bans

Pokémon Go players, beware: Niantic is starting to get serious about cracking down on cheaters.

The company is starting to permanently ban players who cheat either by spoofing their location or by using software to access the game "in an unauthorized manner."

First spotted by Redditors in the Pokémon Go developer subreddit, Niantic quietly updated their FAQ page to address the issue of banned accounts. While Niantic has banned users before, the update suggests the company is starting to ramp up its punishment of cheaters.

Among the offenses that can get you permanently banned are "falsifying your location, using emulators, modified or unofficial software and/or accessing Pokémon GO clients or backends in an unauthorized manner including through the use of third party software." In other words, creating or using just about any third-party Pokémon Go app is enough to earn you a ban. That said, it appears Niantic is targeting the creators of third-party software more than those who use the tools -- at least for now.

The company does offer a form for banned users to appeal the decision, if they believe a mistake has been made, though it's not clear how these cases are handled.

Niantic previously updated its app to address the wave of third-party Pokémon-tracking apps and services that sprung up in the wake of the app's success. Though that update blocked apps like Pokévision, enterprising players have found other ways to cheat the game, like spoofing their GPS location -- a technique that also violates Pokémon Go's terms of service.

Though clever members of the Pokémon Go developer community will likely continue to try to stay one step ahead of Niantic, the company has made it clear it's committed to weeding out cheating in the game.

"We will continue to work with all of you to improve the quality of the gameplay, including ongoing optimization and fine tuning of our anti-cheat system," the company says.