I got gifts from possible cheaters

[Macla]

disclaimer: kinda long thread!

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hey, everybody! <3​

as a new player, i'm still not aware of possible problems that i can encounter in ACNH. at least not until what just happened.

today, i was just about to finish that exterior and interior of three houses quest when i noticed i was missing 9 clays. i reached out to online gaming with dodo codes. i posted my dodo code there and said exactly what i needed: a kind donation of 9 clays or exchange it for oranges, my main fruit. very shortly, already had 3 players over there with me.

the first one, let's call him michael;

the second one, jim (....you can see where I'm going);

and the third, dwight.

when michael entered, i was very happy; it was my first visitor! he was wearing a lot of accessories and had a distinct crown over his head, so i thought that maybe he would be the kind donator. he then proceeded to put stacks and stacks of 30 clays around the floor. in total, it was almost 300. i was in complete shock! i only needed a few of them, and he presented me with a gold mine.

then, jim got in.

jim was just like me, started a few days ago and was very poor on materials. michael then proceeded to keep gifting me and jim AND teaching us how to do some basic things we weren't understanding. he was being very, very cool. at any point, i was thinking that was weird. in fact, i just kept getting happier and happier because even though i like to play and really gather alone all my stuff, at the stage i am, this was good for me because of the lack of rocks on my island.

at some point, michael went afk and dwight got in, STRAIGHT AHEAD putting a 99,000 bell sack in front of me. I was like ??????? WHAT IS THIS! i didn't even know we could stack this amount of money! jim went afk as well, so when i saw that, i just thought about my starter buddy lol. i kept asking dwight if there was any way I could split the bells and share with jim; he didn't answer. when jim came back, dwight just gave him another sack of 99,000 bells! i was going insane! it was too much kindness!

we kept talking a little, to the point we exchanged discord to play later. that was when it got a little weird.

the first one to add me was michael, and then, jim. dwight never reached out.

I was having small talk with michael and thanking him again when jim just texted "these people are cheating"

..

you know when something just clicks in your head and makes sense?

at the same time, michael and dwight started being very weird at the same time. i don't know if i just thought this because of what jim told me or if i would have realized by then. but michael sat on a rock. i asked how he did that, and he just says "it's a magic trick." he then walked out and went THROUGH MY TREES! Like a ghost he just walked by it!

that was my last straw. i was already afraid of what would probably happen to my account with them there, filling my island with cheating items. at this time, dwight had already placed 20 of each fruit (including my fruits), clothing pieces, and furniture as well next to my house. i was TERRIFIED with jim on discord since we were talking about the possibility of nintendo thinking we took advantage of them and just banning us.

i ended up closing my island and just telling michael my battery was running low, but then proceeded to block him and dwight everywhere.

the main reason i'm talking about this is to aware new players and new users over here like me. But I also would like to know if I will have any problems with my Nintendo acc because of that? I really didn't know, but since I also couldn't just eliminate the stuff from my island, I just used them :c

i'm feeling very bad about this, but i really didn't know what to do. the thought of them doing this just to mess around with someone is so sad... i mean, what if they already got someone banned?

i hope someone reports them at some point. i also didn't know how to do that lol. but from now on, i'll use this as a lesson.​

 

[kilusion2011]

Very scary encounter and a very reasonable fear! From what I can gathered and research though, you can not get banned from receiving hacked items in ACNH. There are some things you can get banned for, but it's mostly about if you modify your Switch, pirate, harass players ect. Another thing is that getting banned is very low, so there's no need to worry about that.

You can report a player in-game if needed. The official Nintendo Support site lists out a guide in how to report a player here in English.

 

[KittenNoir]

I would just be careful that items you received from other players aren't corrupt and that they could delete your file or damage your save.

 

[CylieDanny]

Scary scary. I wouldnt worry too much though, I don't think you can get banned for having items like that. But if your still worried about having them, you can either sell, or throw them out via trash can. But Nintendo can't ban you for something like that.

I know when I was fairly early in the game I had someone come over and visit. They did give me bells, frags, bait, tools, tons of materials and lots of flowers. I wasn't worried because it was a member on this forum. But some people just have a ton of items to give out. So honestly they may just have been giving you stuff, so I don't think they were really cheating at all, but just giving out stuff.

I can see the obscurity of just having all of that by hand seem like cheating, but many players do Have a ton on hand. Especially material sellers on this site. I would be wary too, but I wouldn't worry about it. Item wise your fine but again, if your super worried, then toss all of it via trash can.
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I can say that it sounds like these people were using modded switches, because sitting on rocks, and running through the landscape is something I've seen modded players do. They can do a world wind of stuff that regular players can not. So from your description it sounds like they had mods on, or at least had modded actions.

But all in all your fine, Nintendo will contact you if something is wrong. But they will more and likely contact the other two then you.

 

[TN4U]

Like what others said, you’ll be fine. Nintendo only really cares if they detect that your switch is modded if someone reports you, and they have their ways of knowing. As you’re only on the receiving end of things on an unmodded Switch, Nintendo most likely won’t care as much about punishing you, if at all.

Back when the game still received content updates, Nintendo actually went out of their way to indirectly punish players who were hacking in bells on their own or abusing the stalk market, but since the game’s been out for over 3 1/2 years and it’s now two years since the last content update, the chances of getting banned on New Horizons’ online servers are slim unless you’re actually harming players that reported you. It’s not like Mario Kart or Smash Bros where it’s very easy to get banned due to the competitive nature of those games.

If players are finding ways to modify your island, however, that is a serious problem and they should be reported right away.

 

[danmokun]

You're able to sit on rocks, aren't you? I could've sworn New Leaf had that, but I haven't played New Horizons in a long time. As for the walking through trees, that might be your internet connection. If you're unfamiliar with how internet connection speeds affect your game, that's called "lag". Your game just takes a while to catch up to everyone else's game and so in a hurry, your game makes it look like players are running through objects, when in actuality, they simply walked around it. To them, you sometimes look like you're walking through things too.

Hopefully that doesn't come off as sarcasm. I've played with people before who aren't too knowledgeable in computer technicalities and were confused why some players move in a weird way or look like they're sliding around. That's just lag.