An Aug in Probably Stolen is a person controlled through an AI implant who can pose as an ordinary customer. Inspect appearance, behavior, faction clothing, and dialogue together. When those clues remain uncertain, use a powered Aug Scanner and read its completed result before deciding to shoot.
Calling Security is not the equivalent of eliminating an Aug. The target can leave before officers arrive, increasing the threat instead of earning a kill reward. Shooting a human creates a separate manslaughter and reputation problem, so a request for medicine or materials should prompt inspection rather than an automatic shot.
Learn the visual checks from the identification guide
The Mentor introduces the Aug threat and supplies an Augmented Identification Guide. Its visual clues are unusual pupils, an uncanny expression, and a visible Aug chip. Inspect the face and exposed parts of the head rather than looking only at the customer's clothes.
A chip can be obscured by headwear, while a mask can hide the mouth and expression. Missing one visible clue does not establish that the person is human. Move to the other available checks and avoid treating an obstructed face as a clean inspection.
Use a magnified view when a pupil or small piece of hardware is difficult to distinguish. The aim is to identify the feature itself. A dark area caused by clothing or a quick glance at a blinking eye should not become a confident conclusion without another check.
An uncanny expression can be useful, but it is still an observation that needs context. Compare it with the guide and the conversation. The combination of a clearly visible implant and explicit augmentation-related speech is much stronger than a vague impression that somebody looks strange.
Compare appearance and behavior with the guide.
Compare movement, clothes, and speech
Non-visual warnings include unnatural stillness, twitching, clothing that does not match the displayed faction, robotic vocabulary, and overly formal phrasing. These observations give you additional ways to inspect a customer whose face is partly covered.
Read the faction label and then compare it with the outfit. The label describes the customer's apparent category; it does not certify that the person is free of an implant. An Aug can present as an Upper Level Citizen, Lower Level Citizen, or another ordinary customer type.
Listen through the full dialogue. A line such as a request for supplies for a host awaiting augmentation gives more specific information than an ordinary request for medical goods. Mechanical descriptions of normal human behavior can also be revealing.
Not every Aug speaks obviously. Some talk much more like regular customers, so the absence of a robotic phrase is not a reliable negative result. Equally, one awkward line from a customer does not remove the need to inspect the rest of the encounter.
Treat the observations as a combined identification process. You are trying to establish the customer's actual state, not collect an arbitrary number of suspicious details. If the remaining uncertainty is material, use the scanner rather than turning a weak clue into a firing decision.
Use the Aug Scanner for an actual result
Dr. Jackson can stock the Aug Scanner while Augs are active and you do not own one. Its availability is not guaranteed on every visit, so do not assume the next equipment offer must contain it.
The scanner uses a battery slot and consumes 25 power per scan. Keep sufficient charge available if you are relying on it to resolve an ambiguous customer. An unpowered device cannot provide the confirmation you planned around.
The useful completed messages are AUG DETECTED and No Aug detected. Read that result while the customer is still present. A ready indicator, an activated device, or the absence of an obvious animation is not a substitute for a completed reading.
The device allows one scan per customer. Prepare it before rushing through the interaction, and use the result to guide the response to that customer. Do not confuse a previous visitor's reading with the person currently at the counter.
Read the completed detection result before acting.
Keep identification separate from bargaining
The Threaten (Aug) action belongs to negotiation. It accuses the customer and tries to obtain a better trading result. It is not a harmless test that replaces the Aug Scanner.
Threatening an ordinary human can fail and cost reputation. That makes it a poor default action when your actual question is whether a quiet or masked customer is augmented. Use the available identification evidence before selecting a threat.
The product request also belongs to the transaction, not the diagnosis. Augs seek medical supplies and materials for further augmentation, but ordinary customers buy those categories too. The category explains why you should inspect; it does not prove what the inspection will find.
Avoid building a shooting decision around whether a customer accepted your preferred price. Negotiation and Aug identification have different conditions. A frustrating trade is not a positive scan, and a profitable sale does not establish that the buyer was human.
Use the shotgun only when the encounter allows it
The shotgun beside the counter is a restricted interaction. Receiving it does not make it a weapon you can equip freely against every visitor. A Cannot equip the shotgun right now message can reflect the current character or interaction rather than broken progression.
A normal rent visit from the Landlord is an example of a different interaction. The shotgun can be unavailable there even after it worked in a confirmed Aug encounter. Do not interpret that restriction as proof that you need to replace the gun or restart the run.
When the weapon is available, hold its interaction to open the aiming view. Confirm the target, then use the displayed SHOOT or HOLSTER control. Holstering is the correct response when the target has not been sufficiently identified.
A simple click may not open the aiming interaction. Distinguish that input issue from the explicit equip restriction. One concerns how you operate an available interaction; the other concerns whether the game currently permits it.
Verify the outcome after firing
Security examines the target after a shot and confirms whether it was an Aug. That result, rather than your pre-shot suspicion, determines the consequences. Look for the successful confirmation and the actual reward.
A correct kill awards credits and reputation and reduces Aug presence. The credit reward changes with progression and relevant starting perks, so do not use a single observed payment as the universal amount for every encounter.
A human kill adds manslaughter to your Security case file and damages faction reputation. The consequence does not depend on how convincing you thought the clothing or pupils looked. This is the practical reason to resolve uncertainty before firing.
For the Aug Hunter achievement, the requirement is ten confirmed Aug kills. Threatening someone, letting an Aug escape, or shooting an ordinary person does not substitute for a confirmed elimination.
Read the nightly messages correctly
A warning that an Aug may visit and a report that an Aug visited yesterday are different messages. The first tells you to prepare for inspection; the second indicates that a target passed through without being eliminated.
Neither message identifies every customer who arrives next. A warning does not make the first visitor an Aug, and a missed encounter does not justify shooting a similar-looking person the following day. Resume individual inspection rather than trying to compensate with a guess.
Calling Security on the actual Aug also leaves it alive when it escapes. The officers' arrival does not establish that the target was dealt with. Read the response and subsequent threat state instead of counting the call as a successful elimination.
This differs from reporting a wanted criminal. A wanted portrait provides a separate identification task with a reporting response. Wanted status and augmentation are different properties, so use the response appropriate to the confirmed problem.
Understand why difficulty changes the stakes
Aug presence rises when Augs leave alive and falls when they are shot. On Thin Margins and Red Ink, beginning a day with presence at 100 or more ends the run. Easier difficulties have different protection from that failure condition unless Aug Menace is active.
Aug Menace changes the run from the start. It makes Aug content available immediately, increases kill credits by 25%, and keeps the menace active throughout the run. It also allows the Augmented failure ending on every difficulty.
The perk's extra reward therefore comes with a persistent obligation to identify targets. It is not simply free income for keeping a shotgun nearby. An early shop still needs scanner power, normal trading cash, and careful attention to each suspicious visitor.
Without Aug Menace, the threat can eventually end. From Day 62 onward, zero presence allows Security to announce the all-clear. Do not apply that expectation to an Aug Menace run, where the persistent threat is part of the chosen starting condition.
Use a short decision order at the counter
First read the customer and inspect the face. Then compare movement, faction clothing, and the full conversation. If the evidence remains unclear, prepare and complete a powered scan. Only then decide whether the shotgun is appropriate and available.
After the encounter, verify Security's result or the nightly message. A disappearance, a threat, and a confirmed elimination are different outcomes. Keeping those outcomes separate lets you manage Aug presence while avoiding a second problem created by shooting an innocent customer.