# Nintendo account suspended the day after using unofficial amiibo cards



## lkm310 (Aug 11, 2020)

I bought amiibo cards from Etsy and my son scanned the first one yesterday.  Today my Nintendo account is suspended.  Is this related to the amiibo?  Notice says account has been suspended due to a violation of the Nintendo Account User Agreement.  Child accounts are also now unavailable.  Any help is appreciated.

*Mod Note: This user is genuine. Please do not accuse the OP of trolling. Thank you. *


----------



## Eureka (Aug 11, 2020)

lkm310 said:


> I bought amiibo cards from Etsy and my son scanned the first one yesterday.  Today my Nintendo account is suspended.  Is this related to the amiibo?  Notice says account has been suspended due to a violation of the Nintendo Account User Agreement.  Child accounts are also now unavailable.  Any help is appreciated.



I highly recommend you contact Nintendo directly to find out why your account is suspended. I seriously doubt it's due to the etsy amiibo. Thousands have purchased and succesfully used homemade amiibos without consequence. Have you purchased any games online from 3rd parties recently? Sometimes they can be illegal copies that will get your account flagged. Either way, you need to contact support to find out. Good luck!


----------



## Florence + The Machine (Aug 11, 2020)

Homemade amiibos use the exact same NFC data as the ones Nintendo manufactures. There’s literally no way for the game to detect whether the amiibo you’re scanning is legit or not. Your account must have been suspended for another reason. I would take the advice from the poster above and contact Nintendo to find out the exact reason your account was suspended.


----------



## Aurita (Aug 11, 2020)

I second what @Witchy_Trixie said! I’ve used amiibos from Etsy without an issue and I don’t think the system can tell a fake from real one from NFC scanning. Definitely contact Nintendo and find out what happened o:


----------



## meo (Aug 11, 2020)

Does anyone have access to your games unsupervised that may have played online and violated terms? I know reports can be made in game so if you have any young parties that may have played online, an interaction could have been in violation.

Definitely would reach out to Nintendo's support and get further information.


----------



## CodyMKW (Aug 11, 2020)

Definitely not from scanning amiibo or I would of been suspended for using Joycon Droid there's no way for them to tell if legit or not


----------



## loveclove (Aug 11, 2020)

I also used homemade amiibos without any trouble, so hopefully it's not that


----------



## Jacob (Aug 11, 2020)

While this may be unhelpful, I'm assuming because of the timeline (used the homemade amiibo yesterday, suspension today) there is probably a correlation there. Obviously check for other things^ like if anyone else had access to the game and had online interactions. My piece of advice is to read through the user agreement again and see if there is anything that mentions unofficial amiibo usage. If it says nothing related to that, you should be able to contact nintendo support about it


----------



## crispmaples (Aug 11, 2020)

Google the customer service number for Nintendo in whatever region you reside in and ask them how to find out why it's been suspended. The fakes use the same chips and data, and have worked since their introduction in New Leaf. Like another user said, there's no way the system can tell a fake from a genuine, so etsy and homemade ones will not get you banned.


----------



## SirSean (Aug 11, 2020)

Whew read the title and got worried for a second there. I don't believe they have any way of telling the difference between a fake and real amiibo scan so it's gotta be something else.


----------



## Ananas Dragon (Aug 11, 2020)

Not gonna lie, I was scared when I read the title

I dont know what happened but I doubt it's the fake nfc


----------



## Larsi (Aug 11, 2020)

Maybe one of the other users had been rude online? Some games have an online chat so you never know if they have cursed or something. Maybe they made designs in a game which are in violation with Nintendo rules. It can be many reasons so the only way to find out is to contact Nintendo. Phone will be the fastest way and otherwise you can try to send an e-mail. Amiibo's are out of the question.


----------



## Coco63 (Aug 11, 2020)

This title definitely scared me as almost all of my villagers are from homemade amiibos that my boyfriend made.
I don’t think it’s possible for the game to know they’re fake... I could be wrong but some other people on this thread seem to know more about it!

but yeah I definitely feel like there has to be another reason and it’s probably best to contact Nintendo directly.


----------



## Mikaiah (Aug 11, 2020)

contact nintendo to ask why your account got suspended.

I don't use hacked (homemade) amiibos but as is evident, plenty of people have without issue.


----------



## Cadbberry (Aug 11, 2020)

I know I got a strike on my account for a custom design that wasn't well-liked by their system. I suggest disputing whatever ban or just submit an appeal.


----------



## Cosmic-chan (Aug 11, 2020)

Contact Nintedo. Diy Amiibo cards are legal so maybe you were suspended for something else


----------



## DarkDesertFox (Aug 11, 2020)

I agree that it doesn't seem likely. I use Powersaves Amiibo and have probably done at least 30 scans across Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Splatoon 2 and Animal Crossing New Horizons with no repercussions.


----------



## cocoacat (Aug 11, 2020)

Sounds like a bait thread.


----------



## Hobowire (Aug 11, 2020)

it might be unrelated to the amiibo cards....  My understanding is that Nintendo goes after the distributor not the user.


----------



## sunset_succulent (Aug 11, 2020)

i would like some screenshots, the op’s account is very new, and i would like some proof before this all spirals out of their hands


----------



## Chris (Aug 11, 2020)

cocoacat said:


> Sounds like a bait thread.





RubyandSapphire said:


> i would like some screenshots, the op’s account is very new, and i would like some proof before this all spirals out of their hands


Please do not accuse the OP. I made the decision to move this post to its own thread after it was posted in a place where they wouldn't receive the help they're looking for.


----------



## dragonair (Aug 11, 2020)

OP, did you initiate any chargebacks with your bank for something purchased on the eShop? That and purchasing from a 3rd party website are the most common reasons for someone to get banned. Second likely is a COPPA violation but if that happens you should be notified.

A user getting banned for using the amiibo cards is less likely than the seller on Etsy getting sued by Nintendo tbh.


----------



## marshallows (Aug 11, 2020)

like many others have already pointed out, i would also like to reaffirm you that whatever happened to your nintendo account is very unlikely to do with you using non-official amiibos. 7/10 of my villagers are from nfc tags i bought online and a lot of us use them to invite villagers ever since launch without a problem.

i feel like there must be other underlying causes that must have led to your account getting suspended. hopefully you've already reached out to nintendo for a clarification on why it was suspended and they'll get back to you asap.


----------



## cocoacat (Aug 11, 2020)

Apologies to the OP... hopefully they get it sorted out.


----------



## Khaelis (Aug 11, 2020)

Hmm.. looked into it, and while 'homemade' amiibo are a bit of an iffy subject with Nintendo, they definitely shouldn't get a user banned as they are that they use the exact same 'code' that the official ones use. 

The only thing I can think of is you purchased *fake *amiibo products, or your son did something else and was caught.


----------



## mayortiffany (Aug 11, 2020)

I have to agree with the other posters here - your best bet is to reach out to Nintendo on behalf of yourself and your son to see if they can give you a reason as to why the account was suspended, and whether you can appeal their decision. What kinds of Amiibo cards did you buy exactly? Did you buy what you thought were genuine cards from another user? Or, did you buy the homemade/bootleg variants?

It appears that Nintendo has taken action against sellers of bootleg Amiibo cards in the past, citing copyright as their reasoning - the sale of pre-made bootleg Amiibo is very much illegal, potentially falling under piracy and/or copyright violation. However, I am unable to find more information about whether they've taken action against purchasers of bootleg Amiibo, or against people who DIY Amiibo - this seems like a much more grey area.

Just because the data on the bootleg Amiibo is the same as the real Amiibo doesn't necessarily mean that it's legally acceptable to use a bootleg Amiibo. Just because thousands have used homemade Amiibo without facing consequences doesn't necessarily mean that no one faces consequences, and that may be the case with this account. However, I suspect the reason why Nintendo doesn't take action against more users who use bootleg Amiibo is due to a lack of enforcement capability rather than due to the legality/illegality of bootleg Amiibo - which is why in this case, I wouldn't be surprised if it were another suspendable action was taken on the account.

In short: there is certainly a chance that the account suspension was related to the Amiibo, but my guess would be that it was something else. Only Nintendo will be able to advise you of what happened, and whether you can appeal their decision. Good luck!


----------



## dragonair (Aug 11, 2020)

When you contact Nintendo make sure that you call. Chat/SMS (nor emails) can't assist with bans and they'll just have you call anyway.


----------



## Insulaire (Aug 11, 2020)

There is zero chance it has anything to do with Amiibos assuming they are clones of the chips in the cards, which they should be. They cannot tell the difference because there is no difference. It’s like saying you took a picture of a barcode and now are banned for scanning the copy instead of the original. The machine doesn’t know. There is no need to panic, and I’m glad to see most users here expressing skepticism. Contact Nintendo and ask what’s up. Don’t mention Amiibos at all.


----------



## FRANS_PLAYER (Aug 11, 2020)

I refuse to believe this is Amiibo related. Before I got Dobie off of someone on here, I spent at least an hour looking at homemade Etsy Amiibos and all the reviews were stellar. Could your son have done something? I don't mean to accuse him of anything, but if he is, in fact, a child, he could have done something accidentally. When I was 7-10, I did a lot of dumb things in the games I played.


----------



## Serabee (Aug 11, 2020)

FRANS_PLAYER said:


> I refuse to believe this is Amiibo related. Before I got Dobie off of someone on here, I spent at least an hour looking at homemade Etsy Amiibos and all the reviews were stellar. Could your son have done something? I don't mean to accuse him of anything, but if he is, in fact, a child, he could have done something accidentally. When I was 7-10, I did a lot of dumb things in the games I played.


Honestly, my first instinct is he could have done something silly- I'm not judging your parenting or anything, of course. I just remember being a kid and it's easy to do something impulsively that may not go over well. Say a naughty word or make a goofy, inappropriate QR design and share it.

I didn't actually know homemade Amiibo cards were a thing until now, but if they were against the ToS, I feel like you'd hear more about people getting in trouble. Unless this is a new thing, where Nintendo has just decided to crack down on people using them, I doubt that's it. I'd definitely contact customer service or support or whatever to ask what the problem is directly.
If it WAS, in fact, the Amiibo, then that might be worth mentioning in the reviews of where you bought them from and/or on here or similar forums, to give others a heads up!


----------



## dragonair (Aug 11, 2020)

Just to be clear, an account ban and a ban from doing something inappropriate in game are completely different. If you or your child does something in game that violates that TOS you'll either receive an email (like the ones people received when their DA's were taken down) or an error code in-game. You received an error message for an account ban. My previous comment says the most common reasons for actual account bans.


----------

