The digital streets of Erangel, Miramar, and Taego just got a little bit cleaner 🧹. Krafton’s anti-cheat squad has released its weekly ban report for the period spanning December 29, 2025, to January 4, 2026—and as usual, the list of permanently banned accounts reads like a sad playlist of bad decisions. For cheaters, the new year began not with a chicken dinner, but with a permanent exit from the battlegrounds.

This time around, the PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS Anti-Cheat Team pulled no punches, dropping the ban hammer on thousands of accounts found guilty of violating the game’s rules of conduct. While the exact numbers are kept close to the chest, the visual evidence is chilling: a wall of asterisks masking the first three letters of every banned player’s in-game nickname. It’s a beautiful, almost poetic reminder that no amount of aimbot wizardry or wallhack sorcery can outrun the long arm of the game’s enforcement systems.

For those who think cheating is a victimless shortcut to that sweet Winner Winner Chicken Dinner moment, think again. Every illegal program—from recoil macros to radar hacks—poisons the gameplay experience for millions of honest players. Imagine lining up the perfect Kar98 headshot, only to be lasered through a wall by an opponent who clearly skipped leg day for their moral compass. That frustration is exactly why Krafton continues to pour resources into its anti-cheat technology, and why these weekly public shamings are not just for show. They are a public service announcement written in ban codes and asterisks.

Why Do Players Cheat? (And Why It Always Ends in Tears 😢)

Cheating in PUBG is often driven by a desperate desire for that fleeting sense of dominance. Some players can’t stand the heat of a fair fight, so they turn to third-party software that promises auto-aim, no recoil, or X-ray vision. Others want to boost their rank quickly to impress friends who, let’s be honest, will notice those fishy stats anyway. What these aspiring cheaters often forget is that Krafton’s detection methods are relentless, constantly evolving, and backed by behavior analysis, machine learning, and good old-fashioned player reports.

When a ban wave strikes, panicked cheaters flood forums with tearful claims of “I was just testing it,” or “My little brother used my account.” The anti-cheat team, however, has heard it all before. The policy is simple: permanent ban, no take-backs. Those asterisks in the published list are the last public trace of an account that probably had dozens of hours and dollars invested in it—gone in a flash, all for a few cheap kills.

How to Keep Your Account Safe (and Your Dinners Legit 🍗)

Even if you are a saint who wouldn’t touch an aimbot with a ten-foot frying pan, your account could still be at risk. Hackers sometimes hijack honest players’ accounts to cheat on them, leading to innocent victims getting banned. That’s where Steam Guard Mobile Authenticator comes in like a helmet for your Steam account. Setting it up is a nobrainer, and PUBG’s announcement gently nudges everyone to do it.

Here’s a quick survival checklist for any PUBG warrior who wants to keep their inventory, skins, and seasonal stats safe:

• ✅ Enable Steam Guard Mobile Authenticator – Two-factor authentication is the locked door that cheaters hate picking.

• ✅ Never share your account credentials – Not even with your “I just want to try the M416” cousin.

• ✅ Report suspicious behavior in-game first – The report button is your ally. Use it early, use it often.

• ✅ If you need extra help, contact PUBG Support – They are the Gandalf to your “You shall not hack!” moment.

The Anti-Cheat Team’s New Year’s Resolution

If there is one thing the 2026 anti-cheat team wants you to know, it’s this: they are not slowing down. The weekly ban lists will keep dropping, the detection algorithms are only getting sharper, and the era of cheaters thinking they can stay one step ahead is over. The team also pays close attention to community feedback and in-game reports, so every salty but justified report you file is another nail in a cheater’s coffin.

In a twist that nobody asked for, cheaters have inadvertently become PUBG’s best content creators—not through streams or montages, but by generating endless memes and schadenfreude-filled comment sections every time a ban list surfaces. Social media erupts with reactions ranging from “Got ’em!” to “Imagine spending hundreds of dollars on skins just to get banned for wallhacking 🤡.” It’s a circus, and the clowns are the ones with the asterisked names.

A Look at the Ban List Announcement Timeline

The most recent ban report covers an investigation period from December 29, 2025, to January 4, 2026. This steady weekly cadence means cheaters can never breathe easy; a new list is always just around the corner. The published image shows a dense block of redacted names, demonstrating both the scale of punishment and the team’s commitment to transparency—without actually doxxing the offenders.

Aspect	Detail
Investigation period	2025/12/29 ~ 2026/01/04
Ban type	Permanent
Name display	First 3 letters replaced with *
Reporting avenue	In-game report first, then PUBG Support
Account protection mantra	Steam Guard Mobile Authenticator is your shield

Final Circle Thoughts

Fair play is not just a buzzword—it’s the foundation of every heart-pounding, adrenaline-soaked moment that PUBG delivers. Cheaters don’t just ruin matches; they chip away at the trust that binds the community. That’s why the anti-cheat team’s weekly exercise in naming and shaming is so satisfying to witness. It reassures legitimate players that their reports matter, that the developers are listening, and that Karma in Battlegrounds is not an abstract concept—it wears a ban hammer and knows exactly when to swing.

The real winners are the players who drop into Pochinki with nothing but skill, map awareness, and maybe a frying pan. So keep your software clean, your reports flowing, and your Steam Guard on. Here’s to 2026 being the year cheating in PUBG becomes a ghost story that no one dares to test. After all, the only magic allowed in the battlegrounds is a perfectly cooked chicken dinner. 🍗🎯