Riot's Vanguard Anti-Cheat Bans Innocent Buyer of Used Ryzen 7 5800X3D
A German player was locked out of Valorant after purchasing a used AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D CPU that had been blacklisted by Riot's Vanguard anti-cheat system due to the previous owner's cheating. The ban, which began on August 12, 2026, is expected to expire in mid-December, but support refused to lift it early. This incident highlights the risks of buying used hardware in the second-hand market, as anti-cheat systems can track specific components via TPM or other identifiers, leaving innocent buyers with no recourse. Riot's head of anti-cheat, Phillip Koskinas, confirmed that hardware bans last up to four months and apply only to the game where cheating was detected, but there is no way to check for such bans before purchase.
