Different types of bans

Everyone knows you can get banned by a game for many reasons.

Hacking/cheating is by far the most severe one as it goes directly against the fundamental terms of the game, and is always punished by nothing less than a permanent ban! 

That is, if you get caught.

System bans

Most games have anti-cheat measures. Steam games often even rely on the VAC.

These anti-cheat measures scan and monitor your PC, usually while the game is playing and will try to detect any anti-cheat software. When such as software is detected, you receive your instant+permanent ban.

When we say undetected cheats, we mean that no anti-cheat system will be able to detect them

Target bans

Hacks allow you to do things that should not be possible. Think about a speed hack which allows you to run way faster than normally possible. Or the aimbot ensures you always hit a headshot.

Even though the hack is not detectable systematically, many of these hack options can be a giveaway to another player.

If they see you racing over map, sitting in a flying car and only hitting headshots, its very obvious you using hacks. They can then report this to the game. When you receive significant reports, a moderator can start looking into your account. Whenever they see something extraordinary then can conclude you "must" be hacking, and give you a manual ban.

Late target bans

Many players are jealous people so they simply report their enemies if they are better. However, they still add up and while playing more, you will build up reports.

At some point you may reach a threshold and a moderator may look into you. This can often be after a match when you go AFK. When a moderator then decides his case that you were hacking, he can enforce a ban while you are away. When you then login again, you are banned, which may look to you like you did not do anything. It is what you have done before that causes this.

What triggers a manual check?

Unfortunately, the game developers are (for obvious reasons) quiet about this as not to give away too much information.

However, it can be a range of factors such as:

• Reports by other players
• Suspicious activity on a certain account
• Suspicious activity on a certain HWID
• Suspicious activity on a certain IP

Suspicious activity can be another range of things such as:

• Hacking tools were found on the PC, such as CheatEngine
• A previous ban was imposed from the same IP address or HWID
• A brand new account pwning players that play the game for 1000+ hours
• Logins with a large number of different accounts in a certain period

A check does not automatically mean a ban, but it means they will monitor your activity closely and perhaps regularly check if they notice anything.

This means the tiniest mistake can be spotted and you get the ban.