GTA Online PS4 Modders Are Dumping Cash Everywhere and Kevin Has Root Access
If you're still playing GTA Online on PS4, I'd be a little careful with public sessions right now.
A jailbreak for PS4 firmware 13.52 is currently allowing modified consoles to get onto PlayStation Network, and modders are now being reported in GTA Online sessions using god mode, invisibility, rank manipulation and ridiculous cash injections.
So yes, there is an actual problem.
What there isn't, at least from anything Rockstar has officially said, is proof that some innocent player who suddenly gets showered in modded money is immediately getting banned.
And that's the bit I think matters most here.
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What is actually happening on PS4?
PS4 firmware 13.52 has been jailbroken, but the weird part is that consoles using it are reportedly still able to connect to PSN.
Normally, somebody jailbreaking an old PS4 is mostly their own business. You spend Sunday cutting the grass. They spend Sunday persuading a decade-old console to do things Sony very much did not put in the manual.
Fair enough.
The problem starts when that modified console can still go online.
That appears to be what's happening now. Reports say jailbroken PS4s are getting into GTA Online, where modders can start screwing with public sessions. We're talking god mode, invisibility, rank manipulation and huge amounts of GTA$ being dumped onto players. Which means you can join a lobby to sell some weed and five minutes later discover you're apparently the central bank of Luxembourg.
That sounds fantastic until you remember Rockstar doesn't tend to look kindly on accounts that spontaneously discover several billion dollars.
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Can you actually get banned for receiving modded money?
This is where I think some of the coverage gets a bit carried away.
Rockstar does officially say that it can remove illegitimately gained GTA$ and correct illegitimate RP.
It also says deliberate participation in things like money lobbies, account boosting, cheating and modding can result in account corrections, suspensions or bans.
Fair enough.
What I cannot find is Rockstar saying:
If a modder dumps money onto you against your will, you're getting banned.
That's not the same thing.
There's a pretty obvious difference between deliberately joining a money lobby because xXFreeGTA$GodXx promised to turn your account into Dubai, and simply existing in the same lobby as some bloke who's discovered root access and decided everybody deserves a pension.
So yes, illegitimate money can be removed.
Yes, Rockstar can punish people deliberately abusing this stuff.
But no, there is currently no official reason to tell innocent players they're definitely getting banned because some lunatic made numbers happen near them.
That's panic-headline territory.
What should you actually do?
The boring answer is probably the correct one.
If a public session suddenly starts behaving weirdly, leave.
If somebody is obviously cheating, players are invincible, ranks start jumping around or the lobby starts looking like GTA Online has been possessed by an Excel spreadsheet, there's really no reason to stay.
You can also report players for cheating or modding through Rockstar's own reporting options.
And because so much GTA Online business activity can now be done in invite-only sessions anyway, there's even less reason to sit there bravely watching somebody turn Los Santos into a private server experiment.
You're not gathering evidence for Interpol.
Just leave.
Is this happening on PS5, Xbox or PC too?
This specific problem is PS4-related because of the firmware 13.52 jailbreak.
I haven't seen evidence that this same vulnerability affects PS5 or Xbox.
PC has obviously had its own relationship with GTA Online modders for years, but that's a different problem.
Writing a paragraph explaining that PC GTA Online has had modders before would be a bit like interrupting a burglary to announce that crime has previously occurred.
The interesting part here is specifically that jailbroken PS4s appear to still have PSN access.
That's the unusual bit.
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This could disappear pretty quickly
The whole thing may have a fairly short lifespan.
Sony can basically end the party by stopping firmware 13.52 from accessing PSN.
Firmware 14.00 is already out, so the big question is simply how long Sony leaves the door open.
Until then, I'd treat PS4 public sessions with a little more suspicion than usual.
If something impossible starts happening, get out.
If your bank balance suddenly looks like the Pentagon defence budget, don't start spending it like you've just inherited Rockstar North.
And if your rank suddenly becomes 8,724, don't assume you've accidentally become very good at GTA Online.
Kevin has achieved sentience.
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