PSA: Animal Crossing Hacked Mystery Items are Causing Problems

Animal Crossing is one of those games that people love to mess around with. Because of its sandbox style and history of exploits such as time travel, players too impatient for the normal progression path like to cut corners. Whether or not this is “okay” is often up for debate, but a recent hacking trend seems to be a malicious endeavor that players on either side need to look out for.

Animal Crossing Hacked Items Warning

Since Animal Crossing: New Horizons has significantly more online features than ever before, there are a lot of new ways players can interact, even with people they don’t know as well. This includes gifting between players, which you can even wrap up like a special present! Unfortunately, this feature that is supposed to be wholesome is being used for nefarious purposes that can cause lasting damage to a player’s inventory.

Related: Animal Crossing: New Horizons Update Patches Out Star Fragment Trees

Based on what we’ve seen corroborated by several players on social media, bad actors are giving out wrapped “mystery items” in Animal Crossing: New Horizons that have been hacked into their games. But when the recipient tries to open the present, they end up with an item labeled “null” in their inventory. Nothing can be done about it, that includes getting rid of it, dropping it, selling it, so on and so forth. It effectively bricks a slot in your inventory, which will be irreversible until Nintendo hopefully issues a fix.

⚠️ ATTENTION #ACNH

Évitez d’ouvrir des cadeaux emballés venant de personnes que vous ne connaissez pas !
Certains peuvent être hackés de sorte à ce que votre inventaire soit bloqué une fois le cadeau ouvert ! pic.twitter.com/A4Igi7KJJk

— 𝓜𝓊𝓃𝒽 🌱 (@munhacnh) August 23, 2020

There is one way to try to fix the issue, although its effectiveness has proven inconsistent. If you end up with a “null” item in your inventory, you can try to re-wrap it, which will then allow you to get rid of the item if the workaround, you know, works. If that doesn’t work, you’ll be stuck with the item for the time being.

The obvious, and unfortunate solution for now is to make sure you trust whoever you’re trading items with out in your Animal Crossing: New Horizon travels. Receiving gifts and playing nice with strangers is supposed to be part of the game’s spirit, but for now that pleasantness has been somewhat compromised. Be careful out there!

• Animal Talking Fans Can Now Visit the Set in Animal Crossing: New Horizons
• Best Animal Crossing: New Horizons Firework Designs
• How to Find Your Animal Crossing: New Horizons Dream Address

Have you been able to avoid this issue so far, or do you currently have a null item in your inventory? Do you have any experience with Animal Crossing hacks, and has stuff like this changed your perspective? Let us know what you’re thinking over at the Prima Games Facebook and Twitter channels!