Nintendo confirms 160,000 accounts were compromised after customers’ passwords and logins were ‘obtained illegally’
- The company says 160,000 customer accounts were accessed
- Logins and passwords were ‘obtained illegally’ outside of Nintendo’s services
- Unauthorized access resulted in fraudulent charges on some customer accounts
- Nintendo has reset account passwords for those affected
Nintendo has confirmed that 160,000 user accounts were accessed in a wave of hacks this month.
The company says that the account passwords were ‘obtained illegally by some means other than our service’ and were used to access accounts and make fraudulent purchases.
In addition, the company said dates of birth, email addresses and nicknames may have also been accessed in the process.
The increase in reports of unauthorized access of Nintendo accounts coincides with an uptick in the number of people using the company’s online service as people are forced to stay indoors
Nintendo said it is resetting passwords for affected accounts and is also disallowing logins through NNID, which are Nintendo accounts that customers used to access accounts on older Nintendo consoles and handhelds.
Nintendo also warned customers who may be using the same passwords for NNID logins to change their credentials.
The acknowledgement of account compromises follows a report from VGC that Nintendo was investigating reports from users who say their accounts had been accessed by an unauthorized third party.
Some of those users say purchases of up to $100 were made using the cards linked to their accounts.
As a result of the unauthorized logins, Nintendo took to social media to encourage users to enable two-factor authentication.
‘We are aware of reports of unauthorized access to some Nintendo Accounts and we are investigating the situation. In the meantime, we recommend that users enable two-step verification for their Nintendo Account…’ the company told VGC in a statement.
Similar issues were reported by customers in Japan with Nintendo confirming an increase in the number of user inquiries relating to credit card fraud, according to a report from Nintendo Life.
The increase in reports of unauthorized access of Nintendo accounts coincides with an uptick in the number of people using the company’s online service as people are forced to stay indoors to coronavirus lockdown.
An influx of gamers has created problems in recent months, including with Nintendos eShop, which went down to increased usage last month.
In an official statement last month the company acknowledged that many of its systems were temporarily down, including its eShop where customers can buy games and other downloadable content.