It appears that users are being banned from 3DS online services, en masse. There's no direct cause right now, and seemingly no linking factor. This post is meant as an announcement for users, to be wary, and that GBAtemp will keep you updated as soon as more info rolls in. If you have been banned, please post in the thread below, and we will try to keep tabs on the situation. To be extra sure, it can't hurt to turn off your 3DS's wireless capabilities, so you might as well do that for now.

Edit 1: it appears that e-Shop access isn't restricted if you are banned.

Edit 2: A caller to Nintendo reported that the company said this ban is due to "unauthorized software usage".

Edit 3: @LinkSoraZelda is collecting info. Contact him if you are banned.

Edit 4: Click and fill this out if you were BANNED.

Edit 5:

[11:28:19 PM] Clector: Curiously the page of that error in Nintendo Support website used to have this:Error Code: 002-0102 Situation: You receive the error code 002-0102 when attempting to connect online. What to Do: If you continue to experience this issue, please contact Nintendo by calling 1-800-255-3700. Representatives are available from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m., Pacific Time, 7 days a week.
[11:28:44 PM] Clector: Now it says this: What to Do: If you are experiencing this error code, your Nintendo 3DS family system has been banned due to unauthorized system modifications, play of unauthorized versions of one or more games, and/or connecting to the official game servers in violation of our terms of service. This ban is effective immediately and requests to remove the ban will not be processed.

Thanks to @Joom

Edit 6: Aurora Wright is taking another poll here

Edit 7: Not a lot is known but

There are bans happening, they are happening in all regions.
All models in the 3ds family seem to be candidates for banning.
There is no indication they will be anything other than permanent.
A game or DLC may end up being a cause but there is no one game or DLC that ties banned users together.
The cause or causes are as yet unknown, though it does seem to be related to modifications. Reports of unmodified consoles being banned are as yet unproven.
The banning is tied to something you can modify, thus you can unban. Doing it while the causes are unknown is likely only going to burn a working token though.
There are semi public tokens out there, Nintendo knows how to browse a forum as well as you so don't be surprised if they also get banned.
It does not seem to be limited to a given base firmware version, it does not seem to be limited to any one custom firmware type. There is some speculation that older hacking methods are not being hit as hard but nothing to confirm this yet.
The data collection could have happened this morning, or it could have been months in the making.
A simple check to see is checking your friends list, by itself it will not ban you.
Some are turning their wifi off. It is doubtful this will be of much use and being banned does not seem to come with any downsides that wifi being off will not also mimic.
You may have escaped a ban thus far but it could happen at any point. It could be that they stop in the future, it has happened on other consoles, but you would be living in hope rather than any particularly well founded logic.
The bans are done on the side of Nintendo's servers rather than your 3ds so there is also that.

If you hack your devices/games then their online functionality may be troubled. This has been known for decades, Nintendo seems to have finally caught up with that.

Please continue to share information with the thread or the links in previous edits.

Update 5/30

HOW TO HELP AVOID BANS (we think)​

If I was to guess from the information we have gathered since the ban wave, it seems likely that they are looking for TitleIDs that don't exist. Homebrew shows up in the activity log as the Download Play app, and fake CIA's show up as just ??????. That last one is what I'm guessing they are looking for.

If you are not banned yet or before you unban yourself, go into your friends list, choose settings, and turn off the option to "show friends what game you are playing." This will prevent you from playing games online with friends, so turn it back on when you wanna game with someone, but ALWAYS keep it off when running custom CIAs. Next, go into system settings -> internet settings -> spotpass, and turn off BOTH options. One is auto download software, the other sends system information to Nintendo. Also, make sure you don't have your favorite title set to something stupid like FBI or any other non-Nintendo CIA.

Its VERY likely that these options are what tipped off Nintendo, but we aren't 100% certain yet. The amount of banned people that had one of these options turned on was over 80% for each. If I was to assume that some of those people overlap, its very possible (but not confirmed) that 100% of banned people in the survey had at least one of those options turned on. I personally had all of them off and I have TONS of reasons for Nintendo to ban me.... yet I am not banned (yet).

Another bit of advice: Only run custom CIAs when offline, and after you close them, run a "legit" game like Smash Bros. or something before shutting down or going back online. This way your most recent title won't show up as a fake CIA

Current Theories as to what causes a ban
​

* SpotPass Settings: 8 users out of 46 users that were banned have SpotPass completely shut off, or SpotPass only (no friends list visibility)
* Firmware Version (Luma, Nintendo): Literally all reports ranged from 10.2+, I can get exact numbers for this if you'd like, but all firmwares were affected.
* Firmware Type (A9LH, B9S): 44 of the 126 B9S users that answered were banned, pattern was mirrored for A9LH users as well.
* Homebrew Titles such as FBI, HBL, Luma Updater, Themely, and freeShop: Literally about 98% of users both banned and unbanned had some combination of these applications installed. However the common ones were: FBI, HBL, LumaUpdater and NTR.
* Save Modification: Equal amounts of users on both sides have reported save modification in some form, either with PKSM or another save editor
* System Transfers: 188 users said that they had not previously system transfered, 61 of those users were banned; 16 users said they transferred from a hacked console, only three of them received a ban; 13 said they transferred from a stock system and likewise were banned. The rest of our sample did not answer this question.
* Activity Log Information: A majority of those who have not been banned have said they had NOT cleaned their activity logs. I can get exact numbers for this too on request.

This information is just what I've found. Like I said, there could be variables or things we haven't even checked for yet. But these are things that I feel should be disproven, at least with the current dataset we have.

• From the information that we've gathered from some people that have used a packet sniffer such as WireShark, the following data is sent to Nintendo's online gaming servers as soon as the 3DS connects to the internet:
  • Amount of time spent online (timer stops when either the system is disconnected from the internet, or connection drops out, then starts the timer again in a new session when it reconnects to the internet).
  • The game being played and amount of time spent on it during that session.
  • The console's unique hexadecimal ID used in the LocalFriendCodeSeedB, along with it's RSA-signed signature.
  • The console's serial number in which is broadcasted from the SoC and is hard coded in the SoC.
  • Friend Code generated on the Nintendo 3DS system, if one has been generated.
  • Internet connection status (either online or offline).
  • The Nintendo Network ID, if there is one linked to it.
  • Even if the sending of SpotPass Information is switched off, or even hiding your currently playing games. It does not prevent the system from sending currently playing information to Nintendo's online gaming servers, it only hides it from your friends in your friend list (like being invisible on the forum, while mods and admins can still see you). Why? Because even people without a Friend Code on their system have been getting banned too!

• The following data is NOT sent to Nintendo's online gaming servers:
  • The data from the Nintendo 3DS's Activity Log. Oddly enough, while Nintendo does explicitly state that they collect Activity Log data, they're actually referring to their own server's Activity Log, which always tracks every console's online activity, and keeps a record of them that is stored forever. And is only collected in increments of data through a timer and a currently playing list.
    
  • Games or apps that have not been played, regardless if they're legitimate or not. You only get tracked when you're online and using that game or app.
  • Using games or apps while offline. Even though it is stored on the 3DS console's Activity Log, that data is NOT sent to Nintendo's online gaming servers.
  • Custom Firmware. Though we can't rule out the possibility of them releasing a 3DS update in the future that adds such function to collect MD5 hashes of files and FIRM data and send them to Nintendo online gaming servers (which would also be updated in a maintenance).

• Things that people think what happens with consoles, but really doesn't:
  • "LocalFriendCodeSeedB is transferred to the system upon doing a system transfer". This is false, the LocalFriendCodeSeedB remains on the system and does not move to another system.
  • "The console generates a LocalFriendCodeSeedB upon first startup". Again, this is false, the LocalFriendCodeSeedB is made during the manufacturing process at Foxconn. It is generated at the factory, flashed to the NAND flash memory storage, then created as an account on Nintendo's online gaming server and Nintendo eShop server immediately when being manufactured. It is absolutely impossible to generate a LocalFriendCodeSeedB and be able to connect to Nintendo's online gaming server and/or Nintendo eShop server, even if you knew the RSA generation key for it. You'd end up with Error Code 002-0102 "This console's online services have been restricted by Nintendo" if you even tried (the error can either mean two things: The hexadecimal ID doesn't exist on the server, or the request to access the hexadecimal ID has been denied which in other words... banned). So a LocalFriendCodeSeedB generator will NEVER happen! Because it's not worth doing, if it can't connect.
  • Switching off "Currently Playing" information. Once again, this does not hide your online activity from Nintendo's online gaming server, it only hides it from your friends.
  • Switching off SpotPass. Nope, this too doesn't hide your online activity from Nintendo's online gaming server, it only opts-out of receiving SpotPass data, sorry.

So pretty much the bottom line is, if anyone has been using custom apps and/or titles not installed through Nintendo eShop while online in the past, guess what? You're screwed! And it is only a matter of time before your console's unique hexadecimal ID in the LocalFriendCodeSeedB is banned from Nintendo's online gaming server. This will mean, your console can't access the Friend List or play any online functions in games.

If you have been online while using custom apps and/or titles not installed through Nintendo eShop and haven't been banned yet, that's because Nintendo hasn't caught up to you yet. They're still going through each unique hexadecimal ID's Activity Log on their server, and by Activity Log, I mean the Activity Log on their server, not the 3DS console's activity log. And it will be only a matter of time before you're banned too.

Thanks to @Platinum Lucario @MadMageKefka and @ShadowEO !

 

[Clector]

It's always a friend, or a friend of a friend.... No not one single person with a stock DS has been confirmed as banned. None.

I said before but one of my consoles in 10.3.0-X without CFW and all legit titles was banned, but there"s the possibility that"s an isolated case and very weird one:

 

[windyemolga]

If you have your own LocalFriend file, does that mean you can use it until you get banned again, and thats when you need a new one?

 

[ShadowEO]

Two consoles banned.

1º
Old3ds + Luma last version + b9s + 11.4
No nnid
No spotpass turn on
Many hombrews installed (save editor, pokebank, horizon,luma updater, themely, freeshop, fbi)
games cv for injection: (pokemon prism, advance wars 2, final fantasy)
cias from 3ds: All Fire Emblem and Pokemon I played online
Last game online: Fire Emblem Echoes (for download dlc from freeshop but i have a error, because is a undub version)
I use a flashcard acekard 2i

2º
Old3ds + Luma last version + b9s + 11.4
Yes Nnid
Spotpass turn on
Homebrews (save editor, themely, freeshop and fbi)
games cv for injection: fire emblems from gba
cias from 3ds: Manys (yoshi, mario maker, super mario 3d land, pokemon moon, mario kart, etc) but i never played online with this.
Last game online: Fire Emblem Echoes (donwload dlc from freeshop and its work, but i had to donwload one for one because someone was very strange (dummy and strange names))

Thank you, so that definitely helps add further nails in the SpotPass and Homebrew Title coffins, since many users have the same homebrew titles but have yet to see the ban.
Looks like we can add NNID to it as well, since it hasn't seemed to have mattered if you have an NNID linked or not.

How many banned users have played FE:Echoes as compared to those who aren't banned? That may be an interesting angle to look into.

 

[t54mod1]

They also might be purging cfw and piracy to make a fresh slate for the New 2ds/xl

 

[ShadowEO]

If you have your own LocalFriend file, does that mean you can use it until you get banned again, and thats when you need a new one?

I said before but one of my consoles in 10.3.0-X without CFW and all legit titles was banned, but there"s the possibility that"s an isolated case and very weird one:

There's a youtuber who claims that nintendo unbanned his console, I mean if this is true is a first handed source.

The video is in spanish but worth seeing:

Please keep all ban circumvention discussion in the appropriate topics. This is for discussing the ban, not how to get around it.

@t54mod1 That is still a possibility, however thatShop is present on the systems of many users, both banned and non-banned, and I'm sure many non-banned users aren't entirely clean of piracy either. I will fully admit that my console isn't :/

 

[Zekamon]

My 1. Friend's 3DS (more coming soon[emoji769] "maybe")

N3DS XL - Sys 11.4.0-37E
Status: Banned
Linked NNID


History:
Date format: MM/DD/YYYY

14/01/2017 - First Time using Soundhax + Homebrew Launcher on FW Version 11.2

Installed A9LH + Luma with Fasthax + Safehax the same night with 3ds.guide


Currently - A9LH + Luma 6.6-b16d887 (dev)

No save or ROM edits, mostly used for pirating.
Never cheated online and offline.


Homebrew Apps:
Luma Updater, HBL, FBI, ThatShop[emoji769]

Many pirated games but no non-legit Pokemon games which went online several times (every Pokemon game legitametaly bought)


Last played games (latest = first):
Super Smash Bros. for 3DS (legit), Azure Gunvolt (pirated), Fire Emblem Gates (pirated)


Streetpass:
Active for every game he has and all settings options the same as the first day


Friend List:
Favorite Title: Earthbound (legit)
Settings since Day One (of buying):
Show friends when you're online? [Yes]
Show friends what you're playing [Yes]
Friends: 86


Spotpass:
Was completely active in System Settings and Mii Plaza (Games "maybe" partially or completely active)


Online behavior:
Played Smash Online some days ago and not used online that much in the last 7 days, hasn't used online Homebrew Apps like ThatShop (most used) or FBI (used one-two times) for a longer time (except for Luma Updater to check Luma Version)



This took longer than expected. I'm thinking more and more that Spotpass is the actual reason.

 

[Clector]

@ShadowEO That was a video of that console that I was saying, not a circumvent one. I made it some days ago since some people wanted soem kind of proof.

 

[Suji_Pyo]

Mind filling out the information found on page 311 for us? Will help us figure some things out, please be as honest and detailed as you can.

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

We may actually be gaining steam now! Once again, here's the present items that haven't yet seemed to influence the ban decision:

• SpotPass Settings: Some who have been banned have this off, some who have not have it turned on.
• Firmware Version (Luma, Nintendo): People on all versions have been hit
• Firmware Type (A9LH, B9S): People using A9LH and B9S have been hit as well.
• StreetPass Settings (I doubt this was a thing to begin with since StreetPass uses local Wireless for communications)
• Homebrew Titles such as FBI, HBL, Luma Updater, Themely, and *thatShop* (We now have more users who are saying they have these titles installed who aren't banned, myself included)

Regarding the homebrew apps, I use a lot of them and I am not banned. They are not installed because I am using soundhax and I don't have cfw.

 

[ShadowEO]

@ShadowEO That was a video of that console that I was saying, not a circumvent one.

My apologies, I've been doing this for three hours and all day yesterday. It's hard to keep everyone on topic sometimes

@Suji_Pyo Good to know, CFW users seem to have been hit the hardest, but I've seen reports on reddit about just normal HBL users who have been hit (haven't verified them at all, but I'm not about to discount them either)

So I really think that homebrew, at least the homebrew that everyone has in common, is not a deciding factor.

 

[Slashkin]

Ok, this is mine
OLD3ds (2015, summer): not banned (yet)
History:
Fall 2015 - running my 1st homebrew launcher.
Near 2016 - make hardmode and instal luma (not by myself)
Currently - A9LH + Luma 7.0.7-fbbff7d (dev)
I'm using this 3DS for testing, heavy save editing and make random shit.
My apps:
FBI freeShop (v 2.2.0)
Homebrew Launcher (old and it's not working)
TWL (SaveTool for ds)
JKSM (latest)
Luma Updater
Ciangel
TitleKey'sUpdater for freeShop
Tons of cia games from sega
I often use JKSM and TWL.
Last played games: Pokemon Sun: Last savefile is from march and I was online at March'13. Save editing, cia from eshop, played for 1 day of official relise ^^. Never ever cheat online.
Pokemon Moon: Same + soft ban for save edition. Cartrige. Never ever cheat online.
Pokemon bank: sometimes.
ACNL: cia, cheating
Streetpass: Active for streetpass parties :з
Friend List: Favourite Title: Corpse party
Settings since start my playing on it : Show friends when you're online? [yes]
Friends: 68 :з
Spotpass: Was full active (Automatic Software Downloads + Sending of System Information) until March' 24 ...
Info: I made 1 purchase - it's pokemon red. And pay for pokebank. Besides I got free Zelda:LbtW for preorder ORAS.
My online behavior: All time online, because Wi-Fi switch is brocken :з dont care on ban (really)"]

 

[t54mod1]

My apologies, I've been doing this for three hours and all day yesterday. It's hard to keep everyone on topic sometimes

It's fine it's always good to lighten the mood but do try and stay on topic (almost always!)

 

[Joshwraith]

Please keep all ban circumvention discussion in the appropriate topics. This is for discussing the ban, not how to get around it.

@t54mod1 That is still a possibility, however thatShop is present on the systems of many users, both banned and non-banned, and I'm sure many non-banned users aren't entirely clean of piracy either. I will fully admit that my console isn't :/

He is not circumventing anything, he said that was unbanned without doing a thing.

 

[ShadowEO]

He is not circumventing anything, he said that was unbanned without doing a thing.

And I apologized for the mistake. It was my bad.

This took longer than expected. I'm thinking more and more that Spotpass is the actual reason.

The reason we've been trying to disprove SpotPass so much is because if you look back at the reports of both banned and non-banned, many users have them in either state. For example, I am not banned, and have SpotPass on and transmitting.

 

[Zekamon]

I don't think the 3ds is nearly as dead as you picture it to be.

The Switch is NOT a replacement for the 3DS by any stretch of the imagination...
It's a Wii U replacement.

I know but I mean they can't keep using a Handhield when there is a Hybrid already. They should move on since some bigger titles are switching to the Switch (heh) like Pokemon (maybe[emoji769])

 

[Michierusama]

Mind filling out the information found on page 311 for us? Will help us figure some things out, please be as honest and detailed as you can.

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

We may actually be gaining steam now! Once again, here's the present items that haven't yet seemed to influence the ban decision:

• SpotPass Settings: Some who have been banned have this off, some who have not have it turned on.
• Firmware Version (Luma, Nintendo): People on all versions have been hit
• Firmware Type (A9LH, B9S): People using A9LH and B9S have been hit as well.
• StreetPass Settings (I doubt this was a thing to begin with since StreetPass uses local Wireless for communications)
• Homebrew Titles such as FBI, HBL, Luma Updater, Themely, and *thatShop* (We now have more users who are saying they have these titles installed who aren't banned, myself included)

New 3DS Black Friday Mario edition (black one)
Boot9strap + Luma3DS. 10.4 USA.
Status: Banned
No linked NNID

History:

November 2016 tried to dsiwarehax the console. Stuck at the system transfer. Had to take it to hardmod. Installed a9lh.
May 2017 installed boot9strap when I noticed a9lh was not supported anymore.

Currently

My apps:
JKSM, that shop, ctrxplorer, FBI, ftpd, hblauncherloader, snes9x, emu3ds.

Last played games: fire emblem awakening, Yoshi's woolly world, ace attorney dual destinies.


Streetpass:
Fire emblem, Yoshi's Woolly

Friend List:
8 people
Show online status yes.
Show what you are playing yes
Fav tittle pokmn sun.
(Changed it today to no, no, but then I was banned)

Spotpass:
Active after I updated 10.4 forgot to turn it off then I noticed everything was on. Then I turned it off right away but I had to enable wifi. Maybe that's why I was flagged today.

Info:
Barely played online. I always chose yes to share data. Only played pokmn sun and smash in the past.

Never been banned before. I even played pokmn CIA before launch without going online back on those days. Then uninstalled it and started fresh with one from that shop.

My online behavior:
That shop to get games, no linked NNID. No streetpass since 2016 as I never use it. Rarely turned on wifi.

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

 

[iEnzan]

Now I'm curious if it is the Fire Emblem Echo that is causing the ban, and if people who didn't pirate it or it's DLC were part of the SuMo ban, and they ended up banned because someone with the seed they used got banned for Echoes, and caused a chain reaction.

 

[Zekamon]

I have one question because of the ban. Is the first one permanent? I remember reading somewhere that the first ban should be only 15 days before getting rebanned. Can somebody confirm that?

 

[ShadowEO]

New 3DS Black Friday Mario edition (black one)
Boot9strap + Luma3DS. 10.4 USA.
Status: Banned
No linked NNID

History:

November 2016 tried to dsiwarehax the console. Stuck at the system transfer. Had to take it to hardmod. Installed a9lh.
May 2017 installed boot9strap when I noticed a9lh was not supported anymore.

Currently

My apps:
JKSM, that shop, ctrxplorer, FBI, ftpd, hblauncherloader, snes9x, emu3ds.

Last played games: fire emblem awakening, Yoshi's woolly world, ace attorney dual destinies.


Streetpass:
Fire emblem, Yoshi's Woolly

Friend List:
8 people
Show online status yes.
Show what you are playing yes
Fav tittle pokmn sun.
(Changed it today but then I was banned)

Spotpass:
Active after I updated 10.4 forgot to turn it off then I noticed everything was on. Then I turned it off right away but I had to enable wifi. Maybe that's why I was flagged today.

Info:
Barely played online. I always chose yes to share data. Only played pokmn sun smash in the past.

My online behavior:
That shop to get games, no linked NNID. No streetpass since 2016 as I never use it. Rarely turned on wifi.

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

Alright, wow, these last two have really thrown a wrench into some of my unposted theories :/ So it doesn't look like there is any games in common between the users either.

@Zekamon Unfortunately, the only way to know for sure is to wait the 15 days. Prior to SuMo, 002-0102 was typically used for temporary bans. But during the SuMo ban-wave, many users found a permanent version of 002-0102, 022-2802, or a combination of both.

 

[Zekamon]

Now I'm curious if it is the Fire Emblem Echo that is causing the ban, and if people who didn't pirate it or it's DLC were part of the SuMo ban, and they ended up banned because someone with the seed they used got banned for Echoes, and caused a chain reaction.

I don't think that many people got Echoes.

 

[RustInPeace]

I have one question because of the ban. Is the first one permanent? I remember reading somewhere that the first ban should be only 15 days before getting rebanned. Can somebody confirm that?

You can call Nintendo yourself for confirmation, but I was told by two reps that it's permanent.