There are many ways to make money in Red Dead Online, but sometimes the most fun is to adopt an outlaw persona and steal everything that isn’t tied down from other players and NPCs. While you may be familiar with theft in the single player story mode of the game, there are key differences when trying to do the same in Red Dead Online.

Before diving into the different ways that you can steal, it is important to note that actions that deal with theft can have negative consequences. Stealing too often in Free Roam affects your honor negatively in the same way as stealing horses, antagonizing people, or murder. If honor is important to you, consider tempering your actions in the Wild West.

How To Steal From NPCs In Red Dead Online

Red Dead Online players fighting
Via: rockstargames.com

The softest targets in the game are NPCs, though some are far easier to rob than others, and few have much to offer in terms of cash. If you knock out or murder an NPC, their bodies can be looted in the same way as fallen enemies. They offer anything from a few cents, ammo, and miscellaneous objects that can be sold to some collectables like Caribbean Rum, which are needed for crafting certain recipes of Moonshine.

Of course, looting and killing civilians are crimes in Red Dead Online, so it is often best to try this out on the open road where there are few prying eyes. Simply by riding from town to town, you will encounter all sorts of NPCs, often alone or in pairs. If there are no witnesses around, these individuals are perfect to tie up and knock out to rob them.

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If you are feeling particularly evil, you can kill them as well because Red Dead Online does not have much in the sense of NPC permanence, and they’ll be back on the road in no time. If you want a more persistence and authentic experience while playing, you can always check out this mod.

Note: If you burn the bodies, the loot burns up with them, leaving you with nothing to steal.

Red Dead Online NPC looting
Via: reddit.com u/criticalt3

If targeting single NPCs sounds too slow, you can always take the riskier route of terrorizing and robbing an entire town. Obviously, this will have the effect of bringing down your honor, and if you commit enough crimes, will also put a bounty on your head for other players to claim. At the same time, you might simply be killed by others who see your crimes in progress.

Remember that you might want to play the outlaw, but other players might see you as a great opportunity to play the good guy. The more attention you attract, the more risk you take.

The last way to steal from NPCs is to rob their homes, which is an indirect, sneaky way to make some cash. With that said, stealing from homes often feels unsatisfying because there are already so many places in Red Dead Online that are seemingly abandoned but full of plunder.

If you partake in the collector role, this should be obvious, as looking for collectible items to sell to Madam Nazar usually means picking up an abundance of random items that you can use or sell. If you do choose to steal from people in their homes, make sure they cannot see you to avoid any legal problems.

How To Steal From Players In Red Dead Online

Red Dead Online trader delivery wagon
via: rockstargames.com

Since Red Dead Online is designed to be an online multiplayer experience, you are bound come across other players from time to time. Unlike NPCs, however, there is far less to be gained from killing another player on sight, as there is nothing to loot from their corpse. You could take their horse or hat, but these are not permanent gains and despawn upon exiting the game or changing servers.

Instead, the only way to effectively steal from another player comes from ambushing a Trader delivery.

Luckily, Red Dead Online actively encourages this type of behavior, and you if a player is susceptible to attack, you will receive a notification and a marker on your map. This will show you not only where the Trader wagon is and their direction of travel, it will also reveal how many players are in their posse.

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If you feel capable in your skills, you can head over and attack the Trader. Taking out the opposing players lets you steal a sack of their goods that you can then turn in for your own gain.

With that said, you do not actually earn cash through this endeavor. Instead, stealing from other Traders gives you materials for your own deliveries, which in turn you will need to deliver, hopefully avoiding players that are eager to steal from you. Do not feel too bad about robbing other players, as Cripps says it best at camp, “All is fair in love and war, and the selling of pristine animal parts.”

red dead online cowboy riding a white horse and shooting a revolver

Fair warning, however, as unlike NPCs, real players usually have no patience for losing their deliveries, and they may choose to disconnect from the game. Doing so resets their delivery mission and they lose none of their goods, so there is no incentive for them to stick around while you attempt to rob them. Keep that in mind in case your target simply vanishes from the server.

Note that the rules are different when it comes to Moonshine. You can also attack a player while they are making their delivery of alcohol, and you can destroy their entire shipment, but you do not personally make any money from the attack, nor can you pillage materials for your own deliveries. Instead, destroying another player’s Moonshine delivery is more of a roleplaying activity that falls in line with Maggie’s mission to retake her spot at the top of the Moonshine underworld, and you are helping take out the competition.

Now, if ever Red Dead Online adds permanent player housing, maybe then we will have the option to burgle fellow players in the middle of the night!

Next: Red Dead Online: The Hardest Legendary Bounty Hunter Missions And How To Beat Them