Not long after Pokemon Go players began reporting that they were receiving red slashes across Pokemon that were caught through methods that broke the game’s rules and guidelines, players have again begun reporting that they’re seeing more of these slashes recently in what appears to be a broader wave of bans.
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These red slashes that appear across Trainers’ Pokemon are a scarlet letter attached to those who used services such as GPS spoofing programs or other third-party programs to help them nab Pokemon without actually putting forth the effort to get them themselves. The slashes do a bit more than just shame players in this situation, though, as it also limits what those Pokemon can do.
One of the biggest effects of having a Pokemon slashed is that it’s ability to interact with gyms. Your Pokemon that carry that red slash won’t be able to be assigned to a gym to defend it, and since you can’t receive candy from slashed Pokemon by trading them in, it’ll just sit there with the red slash as a reminder. In the beginning, the slash could be removed by evolving the Pokemon, but that workaround didn’t last long.
Spoofers are apparently being hit harder with this ban wave as users have taken to Discord and Reddit to discuss the slashes. A user posted an image on Reddit from a large Discord group that confirmed multiple accounts were being hit; some are still safe, for now, but those users who are spoofing carelessly are receiving more of the slashes. Several of the users reported that those spoofing within smaller distances were not hit with slashes, but those sniping Pokemon from far away locations are being targeted.
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