Pokémon Go Bans Point to the Long-Rumored Black Market for ‘Injecting’ Rare Quests, and Fans Suspect an Insider

Somebody out there owns a Pokémon that shouldn’t exist in their account. Not a shiny with bad IVs. A one-off creature, sitting in a Pokéball that wasn’t in the game when that species was released.

Players are reportedly being banned for picking up rare creatures through questlines obtained “in an unauthorized manner”. Which is a very dry way of saying the black market fans have whispered about for over a year appears to be real.

The receipts started on Reddit

Last year, fans on TheSilphRoad, the top Pokémon Go subreddit, started comparing notes on a small circle of players selling creatures that looked impossible to legitimately own. Multiple copies of one-off Pokémon. Species released years earlier, somehow housed in Pokéballs that didn’t exist at the time.

All of it for sale. Hundreds of dollars a pop.

Selling creatures already breaks Pokémon Go’s terms of service, so that part isn’t the interesting part. The interesting part is how the sellers got the goods.

What “injecting” actually means

These players weren’t catching rare Pokémon. They were being handed the original questlines that granted them. The practice is called “injecting”, and it lets an account receive questlines it has no legitimate access to.

Most fans have landed on the same two explanations, and neither is comforting. Either somebody found a way to hack the game’s servers, or somebody with actual developer access is handing out keys.

Screenshots from Pokémon sellers claim they’re in contact with a member of the Pokémon Go development team. Those screenshots are unverifiable, and the claim could easily be cover for a seller’s own hacking. It’s the kind of thing a hacker would say to make the operation sound untouchable.

Pokémon Go developer Scopely Explore, then Niantic Games, was contacted for comment last year and didn’t respond. A follow-up request has gone out again.

The punishment is 30 days

The new wave of bans for obtaining questlines “in an unauthorized manner” reads like confirmation that injecting has been happening all along. What’s unclear is why enforcement is arriving now, and whether the loophole that made it possible has been shut.

For anyone who made money off this, the penalty is lighter than you’d expect. A 30-day suspension, and a warning that doing it again could bring “additional sanctions.”

The notice sent to players reportedly reads: “Hello Trainer. We have confirmed that you have received Special Research in an unauthorized manner, violating Pokémon Go Terms of Service and Player Guidelines. We take fairness seriously at Scopely Explore, and hence, your account has been temporarily suspended for 30 days. Further violations may result in additional sanctions against your account, including a permanent termination.”

Thirty days. For running a storefront of Pokémon that were never supposed to be catchable, sold to strangers for hundreds of dollars, using quests somebody handed over from the inside or stole from the servers.

The suspensions end in a month. The Pokémon, presumably, stay right where they are.