‘Caught in 4K’: Suspected hacked Pokémon makes awkward tournament stream appearance

One Pokémon player is going viral for using an extremely suspicious Legendary Pokémon live on stream during the Bologna Special Event this weekend. Their subsequent disappearance after the match has led some to believe they were disqualified.

During Swiss round five of the Bologna Special Event in Italy, eagle-eyed Pokémon Scarlet and Violet VGC fans noticed something very strange about one of the ‘mons used in the stream match between Joseph Pulkowski and Alessio Fuscà. While debating his next move, Pulkowski checked his Terapagos’ summary page for a split second, where the Original Trainer (OT) was listed as “FreeMons.Org.” 

In the Pokémon community, it’s widely known that OTs with website names are huge red flags for hacking. This is often seen with hacked Shiny or Legendary Pokémon from a random Surprise Trade. Even if you weren’t aware of this, FreeMons.Org just sounds like a sketchy place to obtain illegitimate ‘mons quickly without catching, breeding, or training them yourself. After all, no one would ever name their character after a website—unless they were just trolling, as pointed out by one player.

While it’s possible Pulkowski was just trolling on stream by using a legit Terapagos from an actual player named FreeMons.Org, that doesn’t seem likely. According to data from RK9 Labs, Pulkowski dropped from the event right after his Swiss round five stream match. It’s unclear if the player voluntarily dropped or if he was disqualified, but the timing of the exit does match up with a possible disqualification.

“Absolutely insane to bring an obviously genned [Pokémon] to an official event after last year,” one player commented, referencing last year’s Worlds that saw plenty of disqualifications and penalties due to hacked ‘mons. The Pokémon Company International was called out multiple times along the way for having a flawed hack check system in which perfectly legal ‘mons were labeled as hacked.

With an OT like “FreeMons.Org,” Pulkowski’s Terapagos likely would not be given the benefit of the doubt if it was flagged as illegitimate. The ridiculous name just screams carelessness to the point of being comical. Rather than being shocked that another player was likely using a hacked Pokémon, most just poked fun at the situation, including Pulkowski’s opponent, Alessio Fuscà.

“I ended up being part of the biggest meme of the season…” Fuscà said. Not even a suspicious Terapagos could ruin the player’s impressive run, going undefeated for 15 rounds into the top eight at the event.