False bans for Old School RuneScape players are really scary since there’s no reliable way to contact Jagex support in a timely and straightforward manner, but can using a VPN get your account permanently banned? The answer is even scarier, because it’s a yes!
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100 percent safe?
Even though Jagex doesn’t deem using a VPN to play Old School RuneScape as a bannable offence, doing so can get you falsely banned if you’re really unlucky, so it is not 100 percent safe. This is because if you’re sharing the same VPN with a bot farm, you could be a casualty in the ban wave that occurs. Even though highly unlikely this has happened before, and not only once. A redditor explains that:
“The most a VPN can do to you is get you IP banned but only through that VPN— unless you use a free VPN where they outsource people’s networks to other people. It’s a scummy tactic but they exist and that’s how your real IP can get banned.
There is one possibility that can result in a VPN integral user getting flagged: if the network you happen to be playing on also has a bunch of players that are running bots. Jagex would conclude <this account on this IP address matches this confirmed bot farm’s IP address so by transitive property, we ban that account too>. But I want to emphasize: that is VERY unlikely. Even using a free VPN service, the likelihood of that is uncommon”
Another redditor states that it actually makes sense to get banned in this scenario:
“Bots/RWTers too use VPNs to continue botting long after their IPs get banned. However, they may use a host similar to yours. If Jagex sees a lot of bots on a certain IP address, they’re gonna ban the s*** out of anyone who was on it. That way, they take care of the bots but also the mules, the traders, and mains. If you were unfortunate enough to have your IP address match or be very similar to one that hosted a bot farm, even for a short time, there is a good chance you will become collateral damage. On top of this, because you scrambled you IP so many times, it will be impossible for Jagex to separate you from the other bots/RWTers”
J-mods statements
J-mods also advice against the use of VPNs, while clearing out that using a VPN in itself is not the bannable offence. Their reasoning is that more often than not VPNs are used for malicious activity. Even though mod Tyran is trying to reassure the playerbase that they won’t ban for sharing the same VPN as a bot farm, it has happened and most likely than not, when the bad rng hits someone it will happen again and they will get falsely banned. And again, this woulnd’t be a problem in itself since upon checking they would remove that ban, but Jagex support is hard to come by.
Other worries
Besides being falsely banned for botting / macroing, other players are worried that using a VPN can also get you the lottery ticket of having your account flagged for account sharing. Even though Jagex has not been as strict with account sharing in the past decade and there are not many known cases of banned accounts for account sharing lately, there’s still a slim risk some are unwilling to take. Another legit concern is VPN breaches as they do happen so if you must use a VPN go for a quality one, while remembering that none is 100 percent safe from potential breeches.
Paid VPNs vs Free VPNs
Some players advice for always using only paid VPN services and deem them as 100 percent safe. However, if you’re that unlucky as to be on the same VPN as a bot farm, it could be either or a Paid or a free one and keep in mind that most both farms are profiting a lot from selling the farmed gold so it is not unlikely they do pay for a VPN service.
What to do?
If you don’t want to take any risk when it comes to your Old School RuneScape account it is much safer to not use a VPN unless you have to so that you prevent any false bans. However, many players have been using VPN services for years without ever getting a false ban.
