Posted on April 22, 2020 at 11:23 AM
Hackers Buy Fortnite Currency with Hacked Nintendo Accounts
For the past month, users of the Nintendo platform have been complaining that people are hacking their accounts and accessing their details from remote locations. Some users said they’ve lost money due to the unauthorized breach.
The account infiltrations seem to have begun in the middle of last month and have gradually increased, with more and more users lodging reports of hacking incidents. Many have received email alerts to inform them that unknown IP addresses have accessed their Nintendo profiles.
Hackers could be using new mechanisms
No one is certain how the accounts are getting breached. It’s not clear whether the hackers are making use of passwords stolen from other sites to gain access to the Nintendo accounts.
However, some of the users have reported using difficult passwords derived by a password manager, which were related to their accounts and not used anywhere else. From the users’ reports, it implies that the hackers could be using different mechanisms other than the traditional brute force, passwords spraying, or credential cutting attacks.
Efforts to reach Nintendo for a formal statement about the incidents have been unsuccessful, as the company has not released any statement about it. But it has advised users earlier this month on Reddit and Twitter to set up two-factor authentication for their Nintendo accounts. It suggested that doing so would keep their accounts safe and prevent intrusions.
Nintendo accounts used to buy Fortnite currency
Several users who have reported the hacking incident in their accounts have also reported losing money. In a few cases, the cybercriminals purchased other Nintendo games with the funds. But in many cases, the hackers acquired Fortnite game currency using PayPal accounts or credit cards linked to the hacked Nintendo profile.
One of the users wrote on Twitter that his Nintendo account was hacked and $300 was used to buy Fortnite.
“I get home from work, and during the drive home, my Nintendo account was hacked, and they spent 300 dollars on Fortnite,” he said.
Number of hacked accounts not known yet
The number of hacked accounts is not known yet. However, the incidence is increasing exponentially, as more and more users are lodging complaints and reporting their account hack.
The gaming industry has suffered some hits with high profile figures among those affected. This includes the editor of ArsTechnica’s game reviews and founder of LootPots gaming news.
Hackers have already started selling Fortnite V-Bucks, which they got from Nintendo switch accounts. The hackers put up ads online, offering their loot to whoever is interested.
Many believe the ads seem to be linked with the recent hacking campaign that targets Nintendo accounts. Each of the ads specifically stated that once the user buys, they would log in and buy the right amount of V-Bucks the user requires or wants.
Securing your Nintendo accounts
Experts have advised Nintendo users how best they can secure their accounts and prevent any breach or hack.
Users who want to avoid successful hacking attempts or who feel their accounts have been compromised should change their passwords. They should avoid using the same Nintendo password on other platforms; because that’s one of the major areas hackers can infiltrate their accounts.
Users should also make sure they sign out from any device they are using. After changing their passwords, the next important thing is to sign out completely from all devices. It will prevent the hacker from gaining access to your account without the new password.
Users should set up two-factor authentication to make it more difficult for hackers to access their details. With an additional verification method, the hacker may have to pass through both verification methods to get to the user’s accounts.
They should also constantly look into their Nintendo accounts and make sure there are no items in the transaction history they do not make. With all these security measures in place, it would help to keep users’ accounts free from hacking attacks.
