Nintendo Customer Breach Double Reported, Fraudulent Purchases
Nintendo has revealed its recent customer account hack was almost double that previously reported, affecting around 300,000 versus the 160,000 flagged in April – prompting the company to encourage two-factor authentication for Switch users.
The company has advised many customer passwords were illegally obtained by a third-party hacker, with some accounts notching fraudulent purchases on the Nintendo store or with virtual funds linked to a PayPal account.
The compromise hit customers who had accounts linked to Nintendo logins used on older consoles and handhelds (NNID).
The gaming company has reportedly informed affected customers, and automatically reset passwords of some relevant accounts.
The breach is said to have illegally permitted third-party access to customer account nicknames, country/region, email address and date of birth, with limited details on how it occurred in the first place.
The news follows a former Nintendo Life report with rumblings that there was an increase in user inquiries concerning credit card fraud.