Report: Nintendo Letter Box used by child predators in Japan

Nintendo without warning last week killed off the Nintendo Letter Box service. Many fans of the service were shocked and Nintendo’s explanation wasn’t very specific. Someone was using the system inappropriately, now we know how bad it’s possibly had been.

A report from Japanese newspaper Mainichi (since translated by Kotaku) reports that a 44 year old man had made two girls, aged 11 and 12 send him nude photographs via Nintendo Letter Box. The man has been arrested and confessed to this incident.

A second report from Yomiuri Online also says that two men in Japanese have been arrested for performing “improper acts” with a 12 year old girl, multiple times. The people involved all met through her Nintendo 3DS – in this case the girl used a dating site.

What has happened here is disgusting but both situations have occurred due parents not being fully diligent. In both cases it was reported that the parents had turned off the Internet functionality of the Nintendo 3DS consoles. Kids being kids simply turned the setting back on. Both reports don’t elaborate on just what exactly happened with the consoles but the Nintendo 3DS features extensive parental controls which can be protected by a PIN. The case with Nintendo Letter Box would also require friend codes to be swapped independently of the console.

Nintendo hasn’t said if this is the exact reason Nintendo Letter Box was turned off but this news coming to light now would have to be a pretty big coincidence otherwise.