Bad news for gamers as the number of Nintendo Switch hacked accounts is reportedly in the hundreds of thousands.
In a recent statement, Nintendo has admitted that around 140,000 more accounts than originally thought have been hacked.
This takes the total number of breached details to approximately 300,000.
A recent press release saw Nintendo admit that upon investigation into the issue, the data breach was far more serious than initially estimated.
The hacks are mostly linked to Nintendo accounts that have linked PayPal wallets and have been used to buy Fortnite VBucks and items.
The reason PayPal accounts were used is that Nintendo does not store credit card information on their systems.
They do, however, store personal information, some of which were changed to suit the hackers’ purposes.
However, some breaches have been used for other purchases such as Nintendo Switch games.
According to Nintendo, while this is a high number of breaches, only a small amount has been used to make illegal purchases.
ChartX Games first reported on this issue in April after the data breach was discovered.
The issue was first brought to light on social media where users were complaining about mysterious transactions on their Fortnite account.
At the time, Nintendo was tight-lipped on the situation and PayPal haven’t commented except for giving some security advice.
Nintendo did release a small statement and urged some security advice:
“We sincerely apologize to our customers and related parties for any inconvenience and concern.
In the future, we will make further efforts to strengthen security and ensure safety so that similar events do not occur.”
In their own investigation, ZDNet found that ads were popping up in dark corners of the web advertising Fortnite items.
The hack involves logging in to a breached account and purchasing VBucks or Battle Passes on someone else’s account and then selling them on at a cheaper rate.
VBucks is the in-game digital currency used in Fortnite that has to be purchased with real money in order to get in-game items.
Nintendo has reportedly been issuing refunds to identified hacked accounts and takes the issue very seriously.
They are also urging anyone who suspects illegal activity on their accounts to contact them immediately.
READ MORE – Hacked Nintendo Switch Fortnite Accounts Costing Gamers Money
To secure your information you should change your password and sign out of all devices.
Create a complex password using a password manager and then sign out of any devices after doing this.
Signing out will ensure that any hacker who had your previous password will be prevented from logging in again.
Information on securing your account can be found at the bottom of this article: https://chartxgames.com/hacked-nintendo-switch-fortnite-accounts-costing-gamers-money
The situation is ongoing and Nintendo appears to be fully investigating the issue.
Please share your thoughts in the comments section.
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Michael is the sole writer and owner at chartxgames.com.
Many thought that his youth (and adulthood) playing video games was a waste of time but here he is writing about them for a living.
Michael has a background in IT and enjoys (apart from video games) building and repairing PC’s, digital artwork (Photoshop, 3DS Max) and has interests in too many subjects to mention.
Here I was I thought it was just a game. Hackers really get into everything, don’t they? I always have complex passwords on my main sites and change them monthly.
I learnt that lesson the hard way when somebody hacked my WordPress site that I had a few years ago, luckily it was an out of date website that I wasn’t doing much with.
It seems to be getting worse and gamers are being targeted more and more.
Given the amounts of money involved in games these days, I can see why.
Cheers,
Michael.