Cheating and rule-breaking
What TornLife's research has established about Cheating and rule-breaking, and the questions players asked about it.
What TornLife has verified
- TornLife's history for KeepMustard shows level 100, signed up 2019-04-12, faction Damage Inc (Leaders), status Okay. The only recorded change between observations is a company change (65629 to 95116) between 2026-01-23 and 2026-08-28. No name or faction changes are recorded. (documented; TornLife history: KeepMustard, )
- The Torn Wiki's API acceptable-usage guidance says Torn will permanently ban offending applications from API access at a moment's notice, asks developers to follow Torn's no-advertising policy for API tools, but allows exceptions if the developer contacts Torn first to advertise, accept donations, or charge users for usage. (documented; API › Acceptable usage, )
- The Torn Wiki states scamming other players is not against the rules and staff will not help recover scammed cash or items, though staff themselves are prohibited from scamming anyone - providing context that being accused of a scam or buy-mug in the forums is not automatically a rule violation. (documented; Scams › Scamming, )
- KeepMustard ranks #13 in Territory wall joins, #547 in Time played and #54 in LSD taken. Combined with high ranks in attack damage, hits and critical hits, these show heavy activity. A high Time played rank and heavy play are consistent with an active long-term player, and no source treats them as proof of cheating. (documented; TornLife data: get player, )
- The Torn Wiki states scamming is not against the game's rules and staff cannot help recover cash or items lost to it; staff themselves are prohibited from scamming players. (documented; Scams › Scamming, )
- The Torn Wiki defines buy-mugging as a normal, named game mechanic — purchasing a victim's Bazaar or Item Market listing and mugging them the instant the sale money lands in their wallet — and lists travelling or self-hosping as the standard counter-strategies. It is not described as against the rules. (documented; Mug › Buy-mugging, )
- TornLife's federal-jail record lookup finds no history of Swervelord being federally jailed, though a recent change can take up to about five weeks to show since TornLife only observes an account when it captures it. (documented; TornLife data: get fed record, )
- TornLife has no record of KeepMustard being federally jailed, as last observed 28 Aug 2026. A recent change can take up to about five weeks to show. (documented; TornLife data: get fed record, )
- In June 2023 KeepMustard reported in Bugs & Issues that the bot hunter captcha did not trigger after the 30 minute window while searching for cash in Crimes 2.0. He noted it could let cheaters use an auto clicker, and he disclosed he was using TornTools. He also posted other bug reports (parry, SED parcel). (player reports; SED parcel issues, )
- Chedburn (Developer) said in 2021 that the API is a direct counter to illegal scripts that make automated requests or scrape pages, and that people willing to break the rules and cheat gain from API restrictions. (confirmed by Torn; Torn's Broken Strategies?, )
- Nothing in the pack shows staff punishing KeepMustard for cheating, and no thread accuses him of it beyond his own remark that others have called him a bot. (documented; TornLife data: get player threads, )
Questions about Cheating and rule-breaking
- Can Torn staff read private messages sent between players?
Yes. Torn staff can technically view the content of private messages between players, but access is gated by the report system, logged, and requires …