Dutchman jailed for selling GTA cheats
The Noord-Nederland District Court sentenced a 25-year-old man to 18 months in prison for cheat software, stolen login credentials and other criminal offences.
A 25-year-old man from Tollebeek has been sentenced to 18 months in prison for selling cheat software and stolen login credentials. The Noord-Nederland District Court also found money laundering and dealing in soft drugs proven.
The man sold programmes through his own online shop that allowed players to manipulate online games. According to the court, these included software for GTA V and FiveM, enabling users to give themselves advantages, cause servers to crash or bypass a ban.
Not all the software on the online shop was found to be criminal. According to the court, it could not be established for some programmes that they could add or alter data on game servers. The defendant was also acquitted of the charge that he had himself infiltrated a game server.
In addition to the cheat software, police found hundreds of so-called combo lists on the man's system. They contained usernames and passwords for more than a million accounts. According to reports, the data were offered through websites and could be used for, among other things, phishing and helpdesk fraud.
The court also found it proven that the man himself misused stolen login credentials. He was also convicted of laundering more than €213,000 and dealing in soft drugs. According to the court, the combination of offences and the duration of the activities led to an immediate custodial sentence.
The case shows that cheat software can have legal implications beyond violating the rules of a game. According to the court, programmes that bypass server bans or can burden systems may be regarded as tools for computer intrusion. That ruling applies to the software proven in this case and not automatically to every tool used in games.
For game companies, the ruling means that commercial cheats can also fall outside contractual sanctions when they damage systems or facilitate digital intrusion. The judge also pointed to possible harm to developers and players and to the investment required for anti-cheat measures. The usual legal avenues of appeal remain open.
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The sentence and proven offences were checked by Rechtspraak and two independent media sources. The article distinguishes between software proven in court and programmes that resulted in acquittals.
- confirmed The court imposed an 18-month prison sentence. — Confirmed by the reporting and the linked judgment. source
- confirmed The man sold software for GTA V and FiveM that could burden servers or bypass bans. — Described by Omroep Flevoland and Security.NL. source
- confirmed Data for more than a million accounts were found. — Mentioned in reporting on the judgment. source
- confirmed Not all the software and the alleged server intrusion were proven. — Omroep Flevoland describes the acquittals. source
- confirmed Money laundering involving more than €213,000 and dealing in soft drugs were among the proven offences. — Mentioned in Security.NL's report. source
Editor's note
The conviction, sentence and acquittals are based on the judgment and independent reporting. The convicted man's name has not been disclosed because he has no public role.Sources
- ECLI:NL:RBNNE:2026:4078 — Rechtspraak
- Tollebeker (25) verdiende tonnen met cheatsoftware en wiet, krijgt anderhalf jaar cel — Omroep Flevoland
- Nederlander krijgt celstraf voor verkoop GTA V-cheatsoftware en combolijsten — Security.NL
More on this in Dutch media
- RTL Nieuws — „gta v”
- FD — „gta v”
- Trouw — „gta v”