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 !

 

[ShadowEO]

I'm thinking about that protected firm could be the reason why Nintendo checks anyone else's modded 3DSes for firm before banning theirs from online.

If it does, is it possible to mask the firm as updated and unprotected firm?

That would begin a cat and mouse game with Nintendo. Anything we could do to mask it, could easily be detected and/or undone by an update from Nintendo.

 

[McMadeEz]

So I've gotten the ban 002 0201 and it seems I can't get into pokebank anymore...I know for sure after a certain amount of time without paying your pokemon will disappear so I need to be able to access pokebank to get my pokemon out before that happens. If there's any way around this please notify me, thanks!

 

[ShadowEO]

So I've gotten the ban 002 0201 and it seems I can't get into pokebank anymore...I know for sure after a certain amount of time without paying your pokemon will disappear so I need to be able to access pokebank to get my pokemon out before that happens. If there's any way around this please notify me, thanks!

Yes, we have ban circumvention threads in this subforum that will allow you to get around 002-0102 so that you can access bank. We don't suggest using it further past that though.

 

[Windylacine]

So I've gotten the ban 002 0201 and it seems I can't get into pokebank anymore...I know for sure after a certain amount of time without paying your pokemon will disappear so I need to be able to access pokebank to get my pokemon out before that happens. If there's any way around this please notify me, thanks!

Did you checked it recently?

 

[woofmute]

so i haven't been using my new 3dsxl since the 10th of march, and im not banned. it's using a9lh and luma, was on 11.2. if i'm due to be banned it hasn't happened yet.

i disabled spotpass data sharing before i went online to check today and then updated to 11.4 because it nagged on the friend list, but every other time i had used my 3ds data sharing was enabled.
i've had the "show my friends what i'm playing" setting disabled ever since i went to cfw (last november). i've never played a leaked game, i've never used freeshop. my activity log has fbi and twloader from early march, and i've not played online on any downloaded cias.

don't know if this info helps at all or if it's enough, i can provide more if needed.

 

[stomp_442]

modded console = no online
unmodded conlsoe = online

Is it that hard to grasp the concept?

 

[ShadowEO]

modded console = no online
unmodded conlsoe = online

Is it that hard to grasp the concept?

Because not all modded consoles were banned. Please be constructive and on topic, attitudes are not required. Other than that, welcome to the thread!

 

[Veranek]

It was bought brand new, no I couldn't system transfer because my old 3ds was stolen, I couldn't remember my login information, so I started a new NNID, only thing I ever did to it was buy a bigger SD card. No modding, no CFW, my 3ds was completely bone stock. I was on 11.4 as well! I looked into doing all the Hacks for my 3ds at one point in time, but that was years ago, because I knew something like this would eventually happen. So I never did anything like that. The only other person who used it was my 10 year brother, and if he managed to hack it, I'd be impressed, he doesn't even have a computer. He just played Monster Hunter and Ice Station Z on it all the time.

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


Mine was brand new when I bought it, fresh out of the box, had it for about 2 years so far. Never did a thing to it.

That's how it feels to me, I'm just at a lose for words right now.

The way I see it, you are being truthful, or at least, you are telling us things that tell us that your 3DS was indeed untouched by modifications. Sorry for being so skeptical, but a few days in this thread can do that to you. If you are telling the truth, though, you would be the first case of Nintendo banning someone that is innocent. Sorry if that comes off as pedantic, but I think this is important. If you are indeed the first case of this happening, this would be big news.

Nintendo had no right to ban you. You would be the first false flag in their system that we know of. I would really appreciate it if you could take a video of you doing certain things with your 3DS. This is not only for us, but for you. If Nintendo is in the wrong, you should be able to get them to unban you if you provide evidence that you did nothing wrong.

On the same shot and without doing any edits:

1. Take the SD card out of your 3DS. Insert it into your computer.
2. Open up the SD card on your computer and record all the contents inside the root of the SD.
3. Remove the SD card and insert it into your 3DS.
4. Power up your 3DS and go online into something that gives you the 002 error.

Most people will be quick to point out that this is not enough evidence that your 3DS is not hacked, and I agree, but it would be a great first step.

I understand if you are unwilling or unable to do all of this, but I know many people here would appreciate it.

Also, regarding what the costumer representative told you, he was telling you lies. Your NNID is not banned. Nintendo has the power to unlink your NNID from your 3DS. Your purchases are not lost. I am amazed that they lied to you so brazenly.

Thanks for taking the time to keep us informed over here.

Also, you are free to come and chat with us if you want. https://discord.me/gbatemp3dsban

 

[Tokita]

So I've gotten the ban 002 0201 and it seems I can't get into pokebank anymore...I know for sure after a certain amount of time without paying your pokemon will disappear so I need to be able to access pokebank to get my pokemon out before that happens. If there's any way around this please notify me, thanks!

Had the same issue.

I used the "Method 1" of THIS THREAD
Then I went to pokemon bank and just did a transfer of all the pokemon that I had there to my pokemon moon cartridge in case I get banned again.

 

[Joshwraith]

But not everyone who had Luma installed was banned.

I removed the previous quote because I thought it was a little out-there, but I agree with @Veranek the person with OFW should NOT modify their console! They should keep it as pristine as possible since it would be the first confirmed OFW console that has been banned. Could indicate that Nintendo is not actually targeting random CFW users, but something else entirely.

Well that is true (about not everyone were using luma), but if you think it, the only thing in common of all banned users is that they were using some sort of custom firmware, we have all kinds of reports about different configuration and homebrew applications, cias installed etc and so far the only thing we all share is the custom firmware itself.

 

[ShadowEO]

Well that is true (about not everyone were using luma), but if you think it, the only thing in common of all banned users is that they were using some sort of custom firmware, we have all kinds of reports about different configuration and homebrew applications, cias installed etc and so far the only thing we all share is the custom firmware itself.

Indeed, but now we also have this one report of an OFW user, which could indicate that Nintendo wasn't actually targeting us directly, but rather used Unauthorized software as a guise (if the report is proven true). Such things have been done before, I mean, need I point out the obvious "Stability Improvements" line they've used forever? XD

 

[Joshwraith]

Well maybe that unique case was banned for other reason and they just put it in the ban wave!

 

[marbles73]

As long as the system wasn't returned to Walmart and sold as new.

 

[Viri]

Not banned still. It was probably debunked, but I realized I had Spotpass sending of system info disabled well before I even hacked my 3DS. Like hell am I going to send Nintendo system info of my console, fucking stalkers.

 

[AceDefective]

I'm kind of curious honestly. There was a question in the Docs poll about it but not here, how many people who got banned had downloaded Echoes? I mean, honestly I feel like they may have dropped a fake DLC in there, or at least been monitoring it; since the only ones able to download that DLC would be people using hacked 3DSes, that would be an obvious indicator that you were a hacker

 

[stomp_442]

Because not all modded consoles were banned. Please be constructive and on topic, attitudes are not required. Other than that, welcome to the thread!

I'm against users of modded consoles going online with them, mostly because I hate running into cheaters in online games. But if I wasn't against it then I sure wouldn't be discussing about this in an open forum, you know Nintendo watches these forums or somebody tells them about something posted here, and when you find out why some users areint banned then they will find out as well

 

[kittyk4y]

I'm kind of curious honestly. There was a question in the Docs poll about it but not here, how many people who got banned had downloaded Echoes? I mean, honestly I feel like they may have dropped a fake DLC in there, or at least been monitoring it; since the only ones able to download that DLC would be people using hacked 3DSes, that would be an obvious indicator that you were a hacker

It's been debunked multiple times that this was the only cause.

 

[omegasoul6]

modded console = no online
unmodded conlsoe = online

Is it that hard to grasp the concept?

Wow, thank you, you solved the ban wave.
No need to try and figure out how to prevent the bans.
Pack it up folks. /s

 

[RedBlueGreen]

What's the lowest firmware of a banned user? Is it just hitting 11.4 or below as well? If it's just 11.4 would the Nver spoofing (used for online on the N3DS prior to the 9.6+ key being dumped) be usable as a temporary "countermeasure"?

 

[Michierusama]

Wow, thank you, you solved the ban wave.
No need to try and figure out how to prevent the bans.
Pack it up folks. /s

[emoji23] [emoji23] [emoji23] [emoji23] [emoji23] [emoji23] I'm laughing so hard. Maybe it's because I'm drinking wine. But omg hahahahahahahahahahaha


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