While Pokemon Go is still in its infancy, people have found two ways to cheat within the game. One can get you soft banned, which is a bad thing, and the other is just plain rude. Basically, your Pokemon Go exploits right now involve GPS-spoofing and gym stealing.
Let’s start with GPS-spoofing, the first Pokemon Go exploit. People with jailbroken iOS devices can get LocationFaker from Cydia for $2.99 and rooted Android device owners can get Fake GPS. Set your fake location, open Pokemon Go , and catch Pokemon. Be advised that this does violate Niantic’s rules, so you will be soft banned for a few hours. That means you won’t be able to catch any Pokemon or visit any PokeStops or gyms.
The other Pokemon Go exploit is something I’ve inadvertently done and doesn’t require any extra programs. When a battle is happening at a gym, you’ll see an animation on top of it showing a fight’s in progress. If the challenger wins, there’ll be a brief window where the gym has no owner. Someone else who happens to be around in that short period could slip in and take the gym without having to battle. This happened to me yesterday, when I stopped by the gym in the park near my house. I saw a weak Team Instinct leader was in place. I walked over. By the time I arrived, it was showing as empty.
I placed my strongest Pokemon, then saw it immediately defeated. It turns out a Team Valor person had also walked over, defeated the past Team Instinct member, and I’d swooped in and “stolen” his gym (Don’t worry. We talked it out. We’re cool). But this is something that can happen and has been reported on Reddit . No doubt it’s on Niantic’s fix list.