Call of Duty Pro Nero Banned From BO7 Ranked Amid Account Boosting Controversy

Call of Duty League player Dylan “Nero” Koch has been temporarily suspended from Black Ops 7 Ranked Play, just days after publicly advertising a paid account-boosting service.

Nero revealed the suspension on September 24, posting a screenshot showing a message that his account was “under review” and temporarily suspended from Ranked Play. He tagged the official Call of Duty community management account asking for help before later suggesting that Activision had the “wrong guy.” 

However, the timing immediately caught the attention of the competitive Call of Duty community.

Nero Publicly Advertised BO7 Ranked Boosting

On September 17, Nero posted that he had created a Black Ops 7 Season 6 Ranked boosting service, directing interested players to his Discord for pricing.

The service offered players the opportunity to have their accounts ranked up in exchange for payment. The advertisement remained publicly available on Nero's X account even after news of his Ranked Play suspension began circulating. 

Nero later explained that he had seen other people making significant money through boosting and decided to try it himself, while saying that he was no longer doing it. 

Still, Activision's rules leave little ambiguity when it comes to boosting.

Activision Explicitly Bans Account Boosting

Activision's Terms of Use prohibit players from engaging in “cheating, boosting, or booting.” The terms also prohibit performing certain in-game services in exchange for outside payment, including power-leveling. 

Call of Duty's Security and Enforcement Policy separately lists boosting among activities that can result in penalties. Activision says sanctions can range from temporary restrictions to permanent account bans depending on the violation and its severity. 

The company has also become increasingly vocal about boosting in recent years. In a previous RICOCHET Anti-Cheat update, Activision described boosting as cheating and said it had permanently banned accounts where boosting represented an extreme or repeated portion of their recent activity. 

Call of Duty Community Reacts to Nero's Suspension

Given how openly the service was advertised, Nero's request for help quickly became a major talking point within the competitive Call of Duty community.

A thread discussing the suspension on the CoDCompetitive subreddit received hundreds of votes, with much of the discussion focusing on the fact that Nero had publicly advertised the service shortly before being suspended. Some users argued that boosting is less severe than using wallhacks or aimbots, while others pointed out that it still damages the integrity of Ranked Play and is explicitly prohibited by Activision. 

Boosting can affect Ranked Play in both directions. A professional-level player competing on a lower-ranked customer's account can create heavily mismatched games on the way up the ladder. Once the account is boosted, its owner may then find themselves competing at a rank well above their normal skill level.

What Happens to Nero Now?

For now, Nero's screenshot describes the action as a temporary suspension while the account is under review, rather than confirming a permanent ban.

There is also no indication so far that the action affects Nero's ability to compete professionally beyond his personal access to Black Ops 7 Ranked Play.

The 24-year-old has competed professionally in Call of Duty for approximately eight years and most recently played in the Call of Duty League with Vancouver Surge during the 2026 season. 

Whether Activision ultimately restores Nero's Ranked access or escalates the punishment remains to be seen. But with his boosting advertisement publicly available and Activision explicitly classifying boosting as a punishable offense, the situation has quickly become one of the strangest Call of Duty competitive stories of the offseason.