Over the weekend, Brazilian Apex Legends pro Alefe “Feu” Santos was accused of using wallhacks in recent South American Pro League matches and confirmed to Dot Esports on Monday afternoon his account has been banned.
On Saturday, Brazilian player oPESADELO tweeted a gameplay clip of Feu he believed was suspicious. oPESADELO tagged another pro player, Jackes “Stalizy” Cardoso, in the caption, writing in Portuguese, “that’s it lol, one more to add to your collection.” Stalizy, who plays for Xen, had previously made videos accusing Feu of cheating.
The clip drew substantial attention from the Apex community, and other pros were quick to chime in. “This guys walling his ass off,” wrote G2’s Tyler “Dezignful” Gardner, in a comment on the clip. FURIA’s Will “TeQ” Starck, wrote, “It’s scary knowing that this SA player who is blatantly wallhacking is still competing in pro league. I don’t get how it can be this obvious & there being zero action taken.”
In a series of emails with Dot on Monday afternoon, Feu maintained his innocence, offering to show hours of gameplay during the tournament that would prove that he plays with integrity.
“I’ve been accused since the game’s release,” he wrote. “I have more than 9k hours played on my account…I’m being accused by people trying to ruin three years. I livestream everything I do playing Apex Legends, and my account was banned today by pressure from above EA. I’m an EA partner. I’ve never been banned from anything.”
Feu, who is currently the kill leader in Apex Legends PC lobbies worldwide, has been in touch with ALGS staff in an attempt to get his account reinstated.
The ALGS, which still plays in an online-only ecosystem, has experienced a dramatic increase in discussions about cheating recently. The same person who accused Feu of “blatantly wallhacking,” FURIA’s TeQ, has repeatedly insinuated that Esport Arena’s William “SkittleCakes” August, one of the best players in Apex, is engaged in “not so obvious” cheating. In APAC North, Korean player Cinap wrote he was being accused of cheating by his peers and called for EA to clear his name: “I want you to inspect my Apex account, and say some official opinions like, ‘We didn’t found any problems from his account” or like ‘He’s not cheater.’ Thanks for your help.”
Ultimately, gameplay clips that appear suspicious to some players may look perfectly legitimate to others. Furthermore, spectator mode in Apex often appears buggy and unnatural, weakening the case for some of the kinds of video evidence usually deployed in conversations on social media.
Dot reached out to ALGS league operations for an official comment on Feu and the state of Apex cheating in the Pro League, but received no response.
Update March 17 12:35pm CT: Feu confirmed to Dot Esports that his account has been reinstated.
