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If you think a VALORANT penalty was issued by mistake, appeal it through Riot Player Support. Riot says it manually reviews appeals and will correct a penalty if it determines the decision was wrong. A previously owned GPU may be part of the circumstances you report, but Riot’s public guidance does not establish that a secondhand GPU alone causes a ban—or that replacing it reverses one.
First, identify what the message actually says
Before filing, record the full in-game message, any error code, and when it appears. The wording matters because an account suspension, a device-level hardware ban, and a Vanguard security restriction are different things.
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| What you may be seeing | What it applies to | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Account suspension | The VALORANT account. Riot’s Community Pact distinguishes this from a hardware ban. | Appeal the penalty through Player Support if you believe it was issued in error. |
| Hardware ban | The physical device, according to Riot’s public glossary. | Include the exact message in your appeal and ask support to clarify whether the restriction is device-level. |
| Vanguard security restriction | A technical security requirement or restriction, not automatically an account or hardware penalty. | Check the exact message and Riot’s Vanguard restrictions guidance before treating it as a ban. |
Riot’s Vanguard guidance discusses requirements such as TPM 2.0, Secure Boot, HVCI/VBS, and IOMMU. A notice about one of these settings should not be described as a ban unless the message or Riot confirms that it is a penalty.
How to submit an appeal
- Open the official VALORANT Player Support request form. Use Riot’s Submit a request page and select the issue category that best matches the message you received.
- Provide your own account details. Complete the account and issue information the form requests. Do not submit another person’s account as yours.
- Describe the used GPU factually. State that the GPU was previously owned and explain only what you know firsthand, such as when you acquired or installed it. Do not claim to know what its former owner did unless you have reliable information.
- Include the exact message and context. Give the error code, when it appeared, and whether the notice names an account penalty, hardware ban, or Vanguard security restriction. Ask support to review which type of restriction applies.
- Submit the appeal and wait for the review. Riot says it manually reviews appeals. Its support form also warns that penalties properly imposed will not be cancelled or adjusted.
What Riot can—and cannot—confirm publicly
Riot’s Community Pact says: “If you believe a penalty was issued in error, you can appeal it by contacting Player Support. We’ll manually review the case, and if we got it wrong, we’ll make it right.” The same public materials distinguish an account suspension from a hardware ban, but they do not disclose the evidence in an individual anti-cheat case.
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Riot’s Privacy Notice says an appealed decision is reviewed independently by a Player Support representative. Riot says it will inform the player of any action taken or not taken, with a written explanation within 45 days unless an extension is needed and communicated. That is Riot’s stated response timeframe, not a guarantee that every appeal will be resolved in a particular way.
The public sources do not establish how a former owner’s activity could affect a later owner, identify a GPU-specific ban trigger, or prove that a secondhand GPU caused any particular penalty. Ask Riot to review your case rather than assuming the GPU is responsible.
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What not to do while the appeal is pending
- Do not buy a replacement GPU expecting it to reverse the penalty; Riot’s public appeal guidance does not recommend that as a remedy.
- Do not create another account to get around enforcement.
- Do not use tools that alter hardware identity. They are not an appeal route identified by Riot.
- Do not present guesses about the previous owner as facts. Keep the appeal focused on the message, your account, and what you personally know.
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