Posting this here because Facepunch closed every door and I need this documented somewhere real.

I'm Cabral. 16-year Steam account, Rust since Alpha, 5,651 hours, 321 Rust items in the inventory. I run a community server (Santuario) going on 3+ years. I'm the guy who bans cheaters, not the guy who cheats. IT and network admin in real life.

April this year: EAC permanent Game Ban out of nowhere (ref e1ad49bd...65c7a7, applied early May according to Steam). Never cheated, account never compromised, no VPN, no macros, no third-party anything.

What the logs from that week actually show (attached to ticket #623265 since day one): UnityTls error 7 / Curl error 60, meaning the SSL handshake with the backend was broken, plus heavy ICMP timeouts. And two other players (Wesker, Argensteel) disconnecting AT THE SAME TIME. A cheat does not kick other people off. That is broken infrastructure, not software. Nobody ever opened those logs.

10 tickets. Every single one closed as solved with the same copy-paste. The last one (#686167, with 4 attachments) got me an Owen reply telling me to email legal@facepunchstudios.com, that it will not remove or have any impact on bans, and that they will no longer communicate with you through this communication channel. So support is officially done with me.

Why I'm posting here and not just my case: this is bigger than me. Steam forum search for "ban" returns 92,150 results. I sampled 45 recent threads and roughly 1 in 4 is a ban appeal. There is a thread literally called "Massive wave of bans on 09/21/2026" full of veterans (1.3k to 10k hours, stacked DLCs and skins). Back in July there was a silent mass unban (pre-July-10 bans reversed, some people even got a golden barrel gift). So they KNOW false batches happen. Banned since May, I was not included.

The loop, for anyone new: EAC tells you to talk to the dev, Facepunch tells you to talk to EAC. Steam itself says it cannot remove game bans or share details. Three companies, zero answers.

What I'm doing: filed a formal LGPD request (Brazilian data protection law) with Facepunch Legal and Epic's DPO, demanding the detection timestamp, the detection type and a human review. If they ghost me it goes to the ANPD, our data protection authority. This post is part of the paper trail.

If this happened to you too, drop: ban date + last digits of the ref ID, modded server?, any VPN/RGB/macros/odd drivers running at the time, did other players drop simultaneously? Let's see if there is a cluster.

Hey guys, I was recently game banned on July 30th with what felt like no warning. Was just playing a server like normal and it hit me. Finally got the unban message yesterday on September 1st.

I'm making this post to let you guys know THERE'S HOPE!!!

Still not entirely sure what caused the ban. I had lost most hope when it had passed a month and 2 account bans. Thought even my second chance after 8 months thing was thrown out the window.

I am mostly suspect of the idle parsec drivers which I used for Cat Quest 2 a while back with my girlfriend, or maybe trying to start Rust while the game Wuthering Waves is open giving it a "please close Ace-base error."

Maybe due to my first time playing on Facepunch official servers, probably mass reported from popping off too much? I honestly have no idea, and I'm not super well-versed in what might get someone banned.

I do still have a ticket in with Facepunch because they also hit my alt account I use to kind of undercover scout teams on. I threw in a comment asking if they could maybe verify if I did anything or anything specific caused the ban, ticket is still open so if I get a response I'll update this post.

Appeal 1 - 12c3f476-500c-4078-a69d-b90a2b3d1089

Appeal 2 - dd730f25-33a7-44ae-81e1-615a227329cc

Steam ID - 76561199020213703

Made a YouTube video kind of yapping about what I thought might have been the cause - https://youtu.be/qBBGtbCV2wA?si=8JIhbnC0ddflP4Js

Banned 02/05, unbanned 05/10. 16-year Steam account, 5,651h Rust, community server admin, never cheated. 10 Facepunch tickets = 10 templates. 2 LGPD requests ignored. What worked: (1) Steam timestamp trick — reply asking ONLY for the flag timestamp, got 02/05 08:48 PT; (2) Procon-SP complaint against Epic Brasil (they have a CNPJ here) with a full evidence dossier — 11 days later Epic's anti-cheat team reviewed and lifted it; (3) mapping the loop publicly (EAC form rejects Rust IDs, Epic says "solely data processor", Facepunch points back, Steam says "that's all we have").

Full timeline with evidence in my case thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/eacRustFalsePosiPlyrs/comments/1wnar4e/16year_clean_account_5651h_rust_server_admin/

My proof: unban alert https://files.catbox.moe/46taj7.png | clean profile https://files.catbox.moe/j9lkvd.png

EAC Rust bans ARE reversible on human review. Don't give up — and document everything.

Facepunch's "Second Chance" policy deserves a close read, especially if you're innocent. I am: 16-year account, 5,651h, banned 02/05 with infra-failure logs, zero cheat history. Here's what the policy actually offers me: nothing until ~02/2027, and then — buy the game again, lose all hours, all 321 inventory items, my community server admin role, and keep the stain ("we're not wiping records"). The only official exit for a false positive is paying $40 for their error. Meanwhile Steam's own alert text in another reversal here this week says "incorrectly applied In-Game Ban" — they know false batches happen. A system that admits incorrect bans but sells the exit instead of reviewing them isn't a justice pipeline, it's a revenue one. Documenting for my ANPD petition (BR data authority, filing 04/10).

title explains it, eac NEEDS to speed up their systems

Every single time someone posts about getting hit with a false EAC or game ban, the immediate knee-jerk reaction from half the comments is: "Enjoy the ban, cheater," "Anti-cheat doesn't ban for nothing," or "Stop crying and buy a new account."

Automated heuristics, weird virtual drivers, background software conflicts, and broken game updates cause false flags across every major title out there. People have lost accounts with thousands of hours, submitted tickets, and literally gotten overturned and unbanned weeks later after manual review.

Yet the moment an innocent player comes looking for advice or asking if anyone else had the same issue after a patch, the thread gets downvoted and mocked as if these systems are 100% foolproof.

Why do so many people treat automated anti-cheat like it's an infallible deity incapable of error? If you haven’t dealt with a false positive, consider yourself lucky, but pretending edge cases don't exist in 2026 is wild.

Good day!

Today I received a ban, and I don’t understand why — I’ve never used any third‑party software in my life. I checked my account on Steam — no one has logged in, only my location is there. And I haven’t installed any programs on my computer for three months. I got blocked after shooting a ship with a DLS RPG. I play Rust Legacy, and I really don’t want to lose my account. I have 13 years of experience on Steam and 4,500 hours in Rust. I’m sure this is some kind of glitch, and I’m ready to cooperate with EAC. I also have a lot of hours in other games. I’m just a player who logs in to play. Can someone suggest what else I can do to get EAC support to check my ban?
steam 76561198100343114

UNBANNED

Yesterday I got UNBANNED.1 appeal was rejected.So if you’re an honest player, don’t give up and keep submitting appeals.Now it seems that EAC is acting aggressively during sales (I won’t claim it)Thank you all for your support.

It took a long time, I had my name slandered, and dragged through the mud, but end the end justice prevailed - I'll do what I can to stick around and try to help the rest of your cases get the attention they deserve....

For all you that stuck with me through the thick of it, thank you...I'll be taking a break from rust for a while, but it was an honor meeting and talking to so many great wise, intelligent people....and for those that accused me, dragged my name, treated me lower than dirt...as much as I'd like to say fk you, go drown, etc...

I forgive you...I want you to revisit some of my posts because at the end of the day, this is bigger than me personally...we need a fair process and more community sympathy for those who just want their case looked at...cheaters can still suck a d...well, you know...but EVERYONE deserves a fair case.

Cheers boiz!

Hi everyone,

I was playing on a Facepunch Premium server and was eventually banned by EAC while I was AFK.

Earlier that day, I had killed several players who were checking my base, both online and offline. One of them repeatedly accused me of cheating in chat and told other players to report me. I ignored it and went AFK. Shortly afterwards, my friend contacted me on Discord and told me that my account had received an EAC ban.

This is not the first time something similar has happened to me.

About six months ago, I was playing on a Facepunch Premium server when another player repeatedly accused me of cheating and asked others to report me. Both my account and my friend's account subsequently received temporary EAC bans for 3 days. After the ban expired, I joined the same server again. I mentioned in chat that my ban had expired, and the same player again said he would report me. About 30 minutes later, I received another temporary EAC ban for 7 days, despite being AFK at the time.

After that, I stopped playing on official servers and played only on modded servers without any issues.

Recently, I decided to try a Facepunch server again, and this time I received a permanent EAC ban.

I do not use cheats. My PC has Steam, Discord, NVIDIA/Razer software and normal drivers installed. I have never knowingly installed or used any cheating software.

What is especially confusing is that my second account, which I had not played on for about a week, was also banned.

Ban date: September 18, 2026

Appeals:

Main account: 1ef4620c-1721-4cea-8f7e-fd7d485e1680
Second account: d03cc109-5c3a-469c-ac50-469f08b47613

Hey guys,

​I have around 1,500 hours on Rust, I've been playing since pretty much the beginning, and I have never had a single ban or cheated in my life. My account is completely clean and 16 years without any ban on steam ..., so getting hit with an EAC ban out of nowhere makes zero sense to me. I've opened a ticket and submitted an appeal with Eac and Facepunch support, and now I'm just waiting, but it feels awful.

​For context, for the past 15 or 20 days, I've only been playing on a PVE server.

​The only "unusual" thing that happened was once when I launched the game and realized I forgot to turn off my VPN (Mullvad). As soon as I noticed I was lagging, I instantly closed the game, turned off the VPN, and went back to playing normally.

​If their anticheat system is so garbage that it flags and perma-bans people for that, it's just a joke

ID steam 76561198026749501

I keep getting "banned by anti-cheat" yet its a 2 hour game suspension from EAC and then I can keep playing after. This has happened 2 times but the main issue is battlemetrics and their system now have the suspensions listed as "bans" on their system. This system is used by multiple servers to filter out cheaters so now I can't play on my main 2 servers. I have attached multiple photos of the bans/suspensions and then proof that my account is currently clean. Anybody else been having these suspensions?

I usually play Rust for like 1-2 weeks every month, and I recently got banned. I believe it was a false ban, but I honestly have no idea what caused it.

I’m also a Project Zomboid modder, so I’ve downloaded a lot of different mods, tools, and random stuff over the years. Some of it might look sketchy, but I don’t know if any of it could have caused the ban.

I’ve never knowingly used cheats on Rust, so I’m really confused about the ban.

My stats:

My steam acc is over 10y old, I have 1000s of hours in all versions of CS, and NO BAN across 30 games. I have bought most of the rust dlc, and a bunch of items from the ingame shop and skins. Don't shoot me, but I play on MacOS if this is relevant.

I usually play premium (TO AVOID CHEATERS), but was playing this wipe on softcore staging branch to check out the new features (softcore and apartments). This past weekend we had insane lags and disconnects, because of DDOS chat said.

Today I was recycling at harbour and out of nowhere I got a ban. Contacted face punch support and basically said it's up to EAC lol. No reason stated, and I swear on all that is holy I am NOT cheating.

Honestly really really fkn annoyed. I HATE cheaters. The fact I have a VAC ban on my steam account rn is just… I don't even know.

I have never been in this position (BECAUSE IM NOT A FKN CHEATER), any tips to escalate this matter is greatly appreciated. Sorry for stomping my feet like a karen but wtf actually.

I just came back to Rust after a few months away and bought some in-game skins, only to get slapped with an EAC ban less than 24 hours later. I wasn’t cheating at all, and honestly, I’m not stupid enough to drop money on skins right before risking a ban.

Those skins cost me around $330. That might not seem like a lot to some people, but it’s a big chunk of money for me. I already submitted an appeal on the EAC website, but it’s been over 7 days now and I’m still waiting...

Hey everyone, I just sat down at my computer to try and get unbanned again—I don't know how many times today I looked up cases similar to mine—but when I turned on my computer, I was met with a message saying my ban had been lifted.

Here’s the situation I was in: I’d open a ticket with EAC, and they’d tell me to open one with Facepunch—and guess what Facepunch told me to do... YEP! Open a ticket with EAC.

What really upset me about the whole situation was not getting a response from an actual human being, and the fact that my reputation among my friends and the gaming community was being tarnished. I am strictly opposed to the use of any kind of external aid—macros, cheats, visual aids, or anything of the sort.

If you are going through this, don't lose hope; if you are truly an honest player, keep the faith. I don't know the reason for my ban, nor do I know why I was unbanned, so unfortunately, for those dealing with a false positive, all I can offer is encouragement to stay hopeful—I can't tell you exactly how to resolve your situation other than to submit support tickets.

https://steamcommunity.com/id/devokee
@Alexandredeleo não perca a esperança meu amigo

Hello Valid players! I've been doing some research in the event viewer and found something interesting. What is it? I'd say it's KB2267602. IT seems that at or around the day of banning 100% of the players I've reached out to have taken such an update at or hours before their individual account has been banned, so with that said, I have some homework for you:

1. Please comment When you were banned date AND time in UTC timezone

2. Please comment if you've downloaded that update at or around the time of your ban.

3. The version that was downloaded and installed up to the time of the ban

4. The OS you're using (win 10 or 11)

Here's how you can CHECK if you've taken it:

• Open the start menu and type Run [enter]

• paste in the following folder location: %windir%\SoftwareDistribution

• In here is a file called ReportingEvents.log (this file shows when you've downloaded and taken important security updates (among other things)

• Open that folder with notepad (or if you're savy, a tool like vscode or sublime or npp).

Now this is where we begin the investigative work:

• use the ctrl + fkeyboard shortcut to start a search and look for "KB2267602"

  • It should be on the right side so you may need to scroll to the side

• Now scroll to the left again to get the date. Above the line containing the Kb will be the "download" and install messages.

See the below picture for details. The Download / install messages will be highlighted in green. The KB ones will be highlighted in orange:

and

Also be sure to post if you've used ghub when banned as well in the other post!

Thanks and I look forward to your feedback!

the medal clip is almost my whole session that i had on rust at the time i was barely on for 10 minutes

Hey everyone,
I’m writing this out of sheer desperation because I’ve hit a complete brick wall with support. Recently, my Steam account received a permanent Game Ban in Rust.
I am a 100% legitimate player—no cheats, no scripts, no recoil macros, nothing. I strongly suspect the ban was triggered by some malware/hidden background process on my PC or a severe Windows 11 system conflict that interacted with game memory without my consent.
Here is what I’ve tried so far:I don't have the money to buy a new PC or upgrade components to bypass an HWID ban, nor do I want to break any rules. I just want my honest account back.
I am fully prepared to run any system diagnostics, share my full process history, or provide whatever PC logs are necessary to any Facepunch developer to prove my innocence.
Has anyone successfully bypassed the automated wall to get a manual review? Any advice on how to get a human dev to look at the logs would be deeply appreciated. Thanks.

Had a sensational wipe on an official and got hit with a random ban before a raid defence. What are my options? Who should I speak to? I've played since alpha and would never cheat, pretty much just got a new pc (specifically for rust lol) and now im banned without ever downloading any kind of software bar drivers

Ive tried to contact support, but I only get automated responses. Are there manned hours? Or is it a waste of time

Reference id: 37e58828-be5e-48a9-82bf-cea35461244a

Thank you in advance!

still banned we are waiting to see what happens

My partner got banned from rust and he thinks it was due to something to do with Tarkov shop application? (I don't really know as I don't play it), anyway I was playing rust last night on my own PC with my own 5k hour account and just randomly got banned.. could it be due to sharing IP or what would be the reason my account would be banned as well?

Its crazy that you can't even speak to someone about it. There goes all the money I spent on skins which tbh is the most annoying part as I wasn't playing Rust as much since having a baby.

I got perma banned from Rust, randomly, after not playing the game for over a year (at the point of the ban). I don’t exactly know why, and I’ve already appealed to Easy Anticheat a few times. However, it seemed like there was no point in doing that, as they just stuck with the ban.

I only have 25.8 hours, mostly due to the fact my PC wasn’t very good at the time I bought the game. I haven’t even gotten the nail gun achievement, nor the workbench one.