$46m seized in police bust of ‘world’s biggest’ video-game-cheat operation

Chinese police and gaming giant Tencent co-ordinated what is believed to be the biggest ever video-game-cheat operation.

Operation “Chicken Drumstick”, saw police manage to seize assets worth $46m, including a fleet of luxury cars. Authorities found and destroyed 17 cheats and arrested 10 people in connection with the ring.

With competitive gaming becoming a million dollar insdustry a crack down on games cheats has been a point of emphasis in recent years. The criminals who charged users around $10 a day, and up to $200 a month for their services designed cheats to popular video games, including Overwatch and Call of Duty Mobile.

It’s not the first time Chinese police have worked with Tencent. The pair are involved in dozens of cases and rightly so with Tencent claiming in September 2020 that cheat software is now a $293 million market across all of China. 

Raking in approximately $76m (£55m) in revenue was made by the organisation was a global endeavour selling to “hundreds of countries and regions”, from their website.