Not real life. Picture: GTA V/Rockstar Games

The Federal Court of Australia granted search and seizure orders and froze the assets of several people believed to have been helping gamers cheat at Grand Theft Auto V.

TorrentFreak revealed the case was filed last month involving GTA V developer Rockstar Games and its parent company Take-Two Interactive.

In court documents, it can be seen that the Federal Court issued a search order for two Melbourne premises, as well as any cars at the premises.

The court also issued an order freezing the cash assets of the defendants, specifically:

“You must not remove from Australia or in any way dispose of, deal with or diminish the value of any of your assets in Australia (Australian assets) up to the unencumbered value of AU$286,609.80 (the Relevant Amount)

According to TorrentFreak, the search orders were carried out soon after they were issued on September 21.

The persons involved were named as “Christopher Anderson, Cyrus Lesser, Sfinktah, Koroush Anderson, and Koroush Jeddian”. They (if the names refer to more than one person) are expected to file a defence later this month.

The freezing order remains in place.

ITWire reports the action was taken in relation to a cheat known as “Infamous”, which allowed a player to become invincible, as well as generate virtual currency. Specifically:

Picture: Supplied

The freeze order also applies to any form of digital currency the defendants possess.

The actual search, seizure and freeze action is certainly unusual in this kind of case.

But video game developers are coming down increasingly harder on gamers trying to get ahead, or helping others to cheat at this kind of level.

Just this week, Fortnite developer Epic Games sued a pair of YouTubers for promoting hacks and trolling in the game and selling cheat software.

Brandon Lucas of the YouTube channel “Golden Modz” and Colton Contor of the “Exentric” channel, both named in the suit, didn’t have their houses or cars searched, but Epic Games wants damages from them and has asked the court to “compel the pair to stop infringing on Fortnite’s copyright and user agreements”.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=24&v=HTCcKWByGxQ

If it sounds extreme, remember, we’re not talking about the right, down, left, right, punch cheats on your controller. This is at a time when professional gamers can win millions at global tournaments.

Games like Fortnite are bringing in up to $300 million a month by ensuring all their players get a satisfactory experience from their time online.

Lucas’ YouTube channel has 1.7 million subscribers, and he sells cheats such as automatic aiming software for more than $280.

“Defendants are cheaters. Nobody likes a cheater,” Epic Games said in its legal filing.

“Defendant Lucas not only cheats, he also promotes, advertises, and sells software that enables those who use it to cheat.”

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