FNCS Invitational winner Sekosama banned for cheating

The Fortnite Champion Series Invitational took place this weekend, gathering some of the best players on the planet. Even though some contestants were not satisfied with the FNCS Invitational format, they had to find a way around it. During the Asian tournament, Japanese player Sekosama earned first place. However, not long after this announcement, moderators received bad news.

FNCS moderators caught Sekosama cheating with another player, particularly from loot gathering and point boosting. Epic Games could not let this unpunished and decided to ban Sekosama from the game for two weeks.

FNCS Sekosama Caught Cheating

In the shown clips, fans clearly see another player helping Sekosama. Since his loot gathering seemed suspicious, a specific moment caught the eyes of the tournament’s moderators.

今日のFNCS見てたけど、Qoo選手がメディキットとふろっぱー入れ替えたっていう情報手に入れようないのに何でメディキのほうに一直線で走ってるの？最初からそこにあるってわかってるみたい。通話してたらしいし。 pic.twitter.com/cbXfwOq4sy

— Cornn (@Fortnitecornn1) May 24, 2020

In this clip, another player brings loot to Sekosama’s feet before disappearing in the storm. The moderators’ report also showed other arguments to explain this ban. Sekosama seems to have been fed elimination points and orchestrating all this while communicating with an associate via Discord. This is a rising risk in online competitions since it is very difficult to find counter-measures for this behavior.

Fortnite Cheating Consequences

After the reveal of his supposed cheating, Sekosama had to forfeit all of his winnings. Despite him proclaiming his innocence, the clips found online are self-explanatory. He is now removed from the leaderboard, letting “qjac” grabbing first place and “Magu” getting second.

He is now banned for two weeks from playing competitive Fortnite. Fans are wondering how can the sanction be so low. For other cases with similar actions, sanctions used to be 30 or 60-day bans.

It is becoming harder and harder to catch players cheating. Their techniques and ingenuity are growing at a fast pace, but moderators also get better tools to stop these. It is clearly not going to be the last case of cheating reported.

Written by Charles Fuster