Staying Safe in Pokémon GO Communities: Privacy, Meetups and Scams

Most people you meet through Pokémon GO are exactly what they seem: players who want to raid, trade and talk about the game. Still, a location-based game combined with group chats and friend lists means you can share more than you intend, and scams tend to follow wherever players gather. A few habits, picked up early, cover most of it.

Trainer Hub doesn't run a message board, so this guide is about the spaces you already use: local chats, online communities, friend lists and real-world meetups.

What you might be sharing without noticing

Location is the thing to protect first. A few ordinary actions can reveal where you live and when you're there:

• Screenshots. The map view puts your avatar on the real streets and parks around you, and a PokéStop or Gym screen shows that place's name and photo. A screenshot taken near home can show where home is, so crop it, or wait until you're away from home.
• Gifts you send. A gift shows the name and photo of the PokéStop or Gym it came from, so friends who open your gifts can build up a picture of places you visit. If those are near your home, consider that before adding people you don't know.
• Routine messages. "I'm at the Gym by my house every morning" tells a whole group chat where you'll be and when. Something like "anyone raiding downtown at six?" does the same job.
• A reused name. If your trainer name matches your username on other platforms, it's easy to connect your game activity to the rest of your online life.

Friend list habits

Sharing a Trainer Code is a common way to find remote raid partners and people to exchange gifts with, and it's generally low-risk: a friend request does nothing until you accept it. A few habits keep it comfortable:

• Post your Trainer Code in a space built for exchanging codes rather than alongside personal details.
• For friends you don't know well, send gifts picked up away from home, such as in town or on a walk, not from the stop outside your door.
• Remove friends you don't interact with any more; you can do this at any time, though any friendship level you'd built with them is lost.

Before you meet other players in person

Raids, trades and community events are some of the best parts of the game. Treat meeting other trainers like any other meetup with people you know mostly online:

1. Choose a public, busy place. Parks, town centers and popular Gyms in daylight work well: there are people around, and they're where raids happen anyway.
2. Tell someone where you're going, and bring a friend the first time you meet a new group if you can.
3. Keep control of your own travel. Arrive and leave on your own terms rather than accepting a ride from people you've just met.
4. Keep your phone charged and your eyes up. Watch the traffic, and never play while driving.
5. Keep plans in the group. If someone you've just met wants to move arrangements to private messages, change the meeting point to somewhere quieter, or meet you alone, treat that as a reason to pause.

Trading normally requires being in-game friends and physically close to the other player, so a trade with a stranger usually means adding them and meeting them.

Scams that target players

The same few tricks keep turning up, usually through private messages or links:

• "Free PokéCoins" or "free items" sites. PokéCoins come only through the game's own official purchase options and in-game methods such as Pokémon returning from defending Gyms. A site promising to generate them is after your login or wants you to install something.
• Fake support or "verification" messages. Genuine support never needs your password or a sign-in code, so anyone asking for either is not support.
• Account "services". Offers to level, catch or raid on your account need your login, which hands over control. Using them can also break the game's rules and put the account at risk.
• Location-faking tools. Apps that let you play from anywhere often ask for your login, and using them breaks the game's rules. Our fair play guide covers what's allowed and why accounts get warned or suspended.
• "Trade now, I'll pay you back later." Both players confirm an in-game trade on the trade screen, but a promise to send something in a future trade relies on trust alone.
• Urgent giveaways. A prize that needs you to log in or pay a fee is not a prize.

If a message asks you to log in, download something, pay first or keep the conversation secret, stop and ask someone you trust before you do anything.

Protecting the account itself

Use a strong, unique password for the account you sign in with, turn on two-step verification if that account offers it, and never share sign-in codes, whoever asks. Our guide to account login, linking and security covers the options in more detail.

For younger players and their parents

Younger players should go to meetups with a parent or another trusted adult and keep their age, school and home area out of chats. Parents can help most by knowing which groups a child has joined and making it easy for them to say "someone made me uncomfortable".

If something goes wrong

• Stop replying, and don't click any more links from that person.
• If you shared a password or code, change your password straight away and check your account's security settings.
• Report the person to the group's moderators. For anything involving your account, use the game's official reporting and support options; our guide to contacting support shows where to find them.
• If you ever feel unsafe in person, leave and contact local emergency services.

When you need help with the game itself, our guide to asking good questions shows how to get useful answers without oversharing, and the Trainer Hub homepage gathers our guides to the game.