Nintendo issues warning about scam sites pretending to be the company’s official homepage

Sites offer deep discounts on Switch, but could be taking something else in return.

On Friday evening, Nintendo Japan put out a warning on both its official website and Twitter account. According to the Kyoto-based video game developer, scam artists have been making websites that look like they’re the official Nintendo site, but most definitely aren’t.

The warning does not provide specific details as to the fraudulent sites’ URLs or whether they’re exact visual copies of the official Nintendo site, but did say that they use the company’s logo and present themselves in such as way as to fool unsuspecting Internet users into thinking they’re the real deal.

The statement reads:

We have recently confirmed the existence of a fraudulent websites that present themselves as being the official Nintendo site. These fraudulent sites have no connection to our company.

The sites unauthorizedly use our company logo and act as though our company manages them, and say they are offering the Nintendo Switch and other Nintendo products for purchase at large discounts.

If you place orders through these sites, you personal information may be stolen, and you may become the victim of fraud. We ask our customers to make sure that they are accessing Nintendo’s official website, not the fraudulent ones, and to refrain from placing orders with them.

The official Nintendo website URL is
https://www.nintendo.co.jp/

It’s unclear whether or not customers who placed orders with the fraudulent sites received the items they thought they were purchasing, or if they were able to recover any money they may have spent. In any case, though, it’s probably not a good idea to go giving your name, address, and credit card info to anyone unscrupulous to impersonate a company such as Nintendo in order to take advantage of the considerable goodwill it has among its fans. Online reactions to the warning have included commenters surprised that anyone would want to arouse the wrath of Nintendo and it’s famously fierce legal team.

So remember, if you’re looking to buy something through the official Nintendo website, make sure the URL your browser is pointed at is the correct one. And really, with how much of a hot seller the Switch hardware remains, if you ever see someone online selling it at a deep discount, there’s a pretty good chance that it’s a scam of some kind.

Source: Nintendo, Twitter/@Nintendo via Hachima Kikou
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