joel denies cheating as Akros shares new details behind the ban

The company behind the anti-cheat that banned joel has revealed new details to HLTV about what it had allegedly detected. The Swede denies the claims.

The Counter-Strike scene was taken by storm on Sunday when news broke that BC.Game player Joel "⁠joel⁠" Holmlund had been banned by third-party anticheat Akros ahead of his team's match against B8 in CCT Europe Series 7.

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joel banned by Akros anti-cheat, removed from BC.Game roster amid investigation*

This came after joel had long been a target of broad cheating and match-fixing accusations. In 2023, he was suspended by ESIC for seven months for placing bets on his own matches, though the watchdog stressed no conclusive evidence of match-fixing was found.

When it came to joel's Akros ban, little was shared at the time about the nature of it other than the company behind the anti-cheat claiming there was "zero chance" that it was a false-positive occurrence. BC.Game had also stressed they had stayed "in the dark" about the details behind the ban while they launched their own investigation into the matter.

But HLTV has now received more information from Akros about what was detected and when, and joel has also responded to the claims.

"Features [of the detected cheat] include ESP, Aimbot and Triggerbot"

According to 'Tristan C.', a representative from the Akros company, the ban occurred after joel launched the game through the anti-cheat less than 30 minutes before the match against B8 was scheduled to begin. The Swede was then prohibited from entering the server as a result before the match even began.

The exact cheat that had allegedly been detected was not named, but the representative listed the following features of it:

"Features include ESP (a type of wallhack), Aimbot and Triggerbot. Each feature has additional customization, for the aim assistance and triggerbot it can be customized to look more human-like and, if not configured poorly, would be completely invisible to the human eye. Not all features need to be used, for example, a player might only use the Triggerbot or only use the Aimbot or only use the ESP."

The representative also shared it is a cheat anyone can purchase and that it is "meant for competitive play on third party leagues and advertises Akros undetection status." He further elaborated it is a "bootkit" type cheat that is launched before the operating system, and which can only be removed or unloaded by restarting the operating system at the bare minimum.

Furthermore, he says the same cheat could have gone undetected in the past: "The cheat could have been used before without being detected. The fact that we didn't detect its presence in matches prior to August 4 does not prove it wasn't present earlier, as this type of cheat is notoriously difficult to identify."

"I know I have not cheated or planned to do so"

In a response to the ban in a comment to HLTV, joel has vehemently denied that he had cheated or that he had planned to do so, which the pre-emptive ban implies:

"I know I have not cheated or planned to do so," he said. "I love to play the game. If I'm not playing CS2, I'm watching it to become better. To now have people doubting my legitimacy is the worst part. I've seen some people react to my demos; I don't mind if they look for something suspicious since everything I do in-game has its explanation. I've even seen some clips floating around that some say are "sus," while there are Teamspeak recordings of information being said that I react on.

"What does hurt, though, is when people prematurely say I'm doing something suspicious in-game because they think I know where the enemy is in an unnatural way, saying I used radar hacks or any form of cheats, which is not true. Those that play with me in teams know that I have a vision of how to play the game, that I'm very vocal in-game, and that can easily be seen when talking to me about the game. There wouldn't be a reason for me to suddenly turn on cheats, but people don't look at it from different angles and just assume I'm a cheater. I've already proven myself on LAN, even though it was some time ago now, and I can replicate that performance."

When asked specifically whether he had a cheat loaded on his machine at the time of the ban, joel also responded negatively: "No, I did not."

"Makes no sense on why I would cheat now when I finally have received a chance to redeem myself. I am more driven than ever to play Counter-Strike and compete. My goal has been to reach the top level of the scene and thanks to all the resources I’ve been given in this team, it makes no sense for me to throw it all away by cheating."

joel did not have an explanation for why the ban might have been triggered and only declined the notion that it had anything to do with the latest update to the anti-cheat released on the same day he was banned, which introduced compatibility with the Memory Integrity setting on Windows.

When asked about his further plans, joel stressed his intention to continue playing: "I hope to resolve this matter since I've never cheated in a match, despite what some people claim. I still love to play the game, and I hope that's what I can continue to do in some way."

Overturning the ban doesn't look possible, however. The Akros representative shared that it is permanent and that joel won't be able to participate in any event or platform that is Akros-protected ever again.

BC.Game also appear to be moving on from the controversial Swede. "As it stands right now we are still in the dark on the truth of the situation and therefore our best course of action is that Joel will remain removed from the team," a statement the organization released on X reads.

"We are actively searching for a permanent replacement to maintain our competitive edge. We are dedicated to full transparency with our community and will provide an update on our current roster in the near future."