With the changes to Cheater tags, Auto-kicks, etc I thought I'd make a long guild on spotting cheaters. As with alot of things I do guides on, yes I am aware others exsist on the same topic and yes they are probably better.

Down to the point, this guide is more for people who want to host and filter out the cheaters from actual pubs. If you're just joining lobbies and think the host is a cheater, it's not hard to work out since bags will be raining from the sky. Also alot of cheating hosts will just kick everyone at the end of a heist because they're jerks like that. So if you get a cheating host just leave, there are a ton more lobbies out there.

I should cover Private Profiles.
Basically not all everyone with a private profile is a cheater, but some are. There are steps you can take to see if they're a cheater or not, it's just the private profile makes it a little harder.

95% of the false positive reports I've seen are incorrect, false positives do happen but most of the time dumb cheaters will post of the forums saying they're a victim of a false positive.

Basically it'll trigger if:
- You use a weapon, mask, pattern or start a heist from a DLC you do not own.
- Spawning in any objects (various cheats can do this)
- Placing too many ammo, meds, etc
- Missing certain achivements (Having infamy 5 without infamy 4, wearing a mask/pattern or using a weapon mod without the achivement/DLC unlocking it)

And so on.
New hacks come up all the time so there is no universal list but most of them get pinged by the cheater tags and the auto-kick. Sadly it won't trigger for anything not "in-heist" so people can still cheat their achivements and level, but it's better than it was.

Known False Positives
- Throwing too many grenades.
This one has been around for a very very long time. It started when the grenade case asset was put in and now with the armoury from Hoxton Breakout. Basically after you throw the 3 you start with and pick up more it'll ping that you threw too many. To my knowledge it's still not fixed.

- Pistol Messiah/Swan Song
I've heard of this happening but not enough for anything concrete. What happens is you use your charges and go into custody then for some reason if you try to use it when you get out, you get pinged as a cheater. This will have to be tested but I'll leave it on the list until it's debunked.

- Duping bags.
This one is due to lag when 2 people try to pick up the same bag at the same time. Basically a second bag is created and the game will ping one or both of the people in question for creating the extra bag. I haven't experianced this myself, even though my connection is basically 2 cups connected wih string.

Note: Some mods have their own anti-cheat and they are riddled with false positives, expecially after major updates where new mechanics were added.

This should be your first clue.

Alot of cheaters' skill level won't match their in game level. Sure it's not a 100% method but it's a good place to start. But I'd still kick any infamy 3+ who can't do Overkill, let alone Deathwish.
Basically they'll play like noobs and will try and blame it on lag, desync or just simply computer problems. Cheaters are most common on Deathwish and Overkill since most just want to play the higher difficulties without working for them or just to troll.

I should add that alot of it is game knowledge as well, basically if someone is max level and doesn't know how Rats works, it's a good idea to check their profile.

Alot of cheaters use a program called Steam Achievement Manager (SAM) to mess with their achivements. It does have a "legitimate" use for removing achivements but it's feature of adding them is very often abused. Also most people agree that it's a cheat pure and simple. The people that defend it for unlocking achives are normally the people that use it to cheat.

If they have a private profile you won't be able to see their achivements, but a private profile DOES NOT mean they are a cheater. People have their profiles private for many different reasons.

Still there are lots of achivements that are impossible to have at the same time.
For example Oppressor and Sneaking With the Fishes. They are from different heists making it kinda hard to get them at the exact same time.

Also, it's not always from cheating but, some people will have their level/infamy achives out of order.
it's impossible to get 2 infamy achives at the same time, but there is an unlikely valid reason to have them out of order or missing.
Basically if you play with Steam in offline mode your achivements aren't recorded but you still level up. That can be easily fixed by downloading your old save from the steam cloud or not getting imfamy until you go online again. Still I wouldn't give that excuse time of day if the rest of their achivements/hours are dodgy.

This is where pd2stats comes in handy.
But you can get some of this from just their normal Steam Profile page.
A person's stats say alot about them. Hense why some cheaters set their profiles to private.

First off is level. With Infamy 2.0 out, there will be alot of cheaters using SAM or various cheat engines to hit max level. There's nothing that can be done to stop this but you can look at their stats to tell. Since they will have far less hours than what they should. With wide spread Hoxton Breakout spamming, it's hard to tell the difference beween a cheater and a low skilled player, since often they have the same low skill for their level. But it's still impossible to have 2 infamy tiers unlocked at the exact same time.

As for heists, everyone has to do of done atleast some Normal/Hard/Very Hard heists and a profile with just Overkill and DW done is a red flag because even smurf accounts have other heists completed on them (mostly for doing achivements).

Skillwise (pd2stats kinda bugs out a bit with loadout slots) if they have too many high tier skills, that can point to a cheater. Basically the other day we got a pub join who had: Akimbo Aced, Iron man, Inspire, Silent drills and 2 ECMs. Sure Akimbos come from the hitman deck, but not with the extra ammo bonus. Still use your head and have a rough idea of how many skill points a person should have.

If you host or your friend is the host, you need to know what to look for.
A sus check is basically looking up a person's stats to see if they're a cheater. If you know what you're looking for it can be done pretty quick.

Achivements, some are imposible to achive at the same time. Easiest to spot is infamy since you can't get multiple infamys at once. Others are any DW achives (aside from the contracter ones) since each requires you to complete different heists on DW. Another good example is one that requires the heist done in stealth and the same heist to be done loud, so Sneaking With The Fishes and I've Got The Power are a good example and one that is often overlooked by cheaters.

As for hours, even if they were carried, a person should have atleast 20 hours per infamy with atleast an hour beween infamys. Also there is no heist that can take you from 50-100 so if someone has their 50 and 100 at the same time or less than an hour between infamys, they cheated and a sus check will show that.

All that can be done via Steam since their profile will show what achivements they have.

Personally I play without any mods but I know alot of people who enjoy mods.
So here's a section on them.

Any mod that changes things for other cilents or changes game files for an unfair advantage is cheating.
But in saying that, what you do with your friends is ok in my books, as long as you aren't cheating for xp or setting out to mislead people or faking your stats or items.

Also any mod that allows you to obtain DLC content without paying is not only cheating, but stealing.

In saying that, Overkill made it very easy to use mods and alot of people have fun using them.
So have fun and don't use them to cheat.

Note: GoonHud isn't cheating, since it's mutators cannot be activated in public games and will block achivements when active.

Various bugs do exsist in game so people do exploit them from time to time.
But I don't class it as cheating, but some people do.

Duping Cards
This is the one you will see the most. Basically when 2 or more people pick up the same keycard (or crowbar/thermal paste) at the same time, there's a chance of duping the card. Some people say it's cheating but I really don't worry about it. Since it doesn't break the game too much and if it was Overkill would of done something about it by now.

Freezing Guards
This works on a few heists, Train Hiest for one, but basically you have a loud drill going near a guard but have something in their way of them getting to it. What happens is the guard will just stop at what's in the way, a door/wall/etc, and just stop moving all together.
There's no way to prevent this, as it's an issue with pathing but many people call it cheating if you freeze guards.

Hot Sale (Got ninja fixed awhile ago)
An old one but a good one. Basically in Mallcrasher, you buy the gas can and use it in the "Rated-T" store. There's a shelf that was out of the fire, that you could stand on and watch cops wander in to their doom. (Enemies die instantly if the touch the fire.)

The Magic Table (ninja fixed on Rats)
In Rats day one and Hotline Miami day two there are tables you can hide under and the cops can't* reach you. Giving a somewhat safe location to sit. They are located next to the lab in Rats and where you can place ammo/meds on the 3rd floor of Hotline day 2.
*Note: it was kinda sorta patched so the cops will sometimes take pot shots at you and toss flashbangs and smoke. It still works, just not as well as it did.

Pager Juggling
I don't have much on this one since it can't be done with any lag or de-sync and requires another human being to pull off. It works like this: Person A begins to answer the pager then about 2/3 of the way through person B begins to answer it too and person A stops and waits for person B to be about 2/3 done, answers and repeat til heist is done.

Basically people are jerks and some will cheat. Still you should not give cheaters time of day.

So just leave their lobbies or kick them.

Still I hope this guide helps someone, since it goes more into detail what is cheating and how the cheater tag works, plus what bugs people will falsely call cheating.