PlayStation: Unknown Child Accounts Appear in Family Management

Strange guests in your own PlayStation account: Players are reporting that child accounts they never created are suddenly appearing in their family management. The problem is gaining attention because these accounts cannot simply be removed. Sony has confirmed that the incidents are being investigated.

What exactly are affected PlayStation users reporting?

According to PC Games, users have been observing these anomalies since early October. Japanese magazine Game Watch has picked up on the story, reporting that cases have been known since at least October 6th. Besides Japanese players, there have also been isolated international reports.

• In one case, six unknown child accounts were added to a single account.
• Some affected users also received emails about a changed sign-in ID or email address, which they did not initiate themselves.
• It is currently unclear whether both issues have the same cause or if there are multiple separate security vulnerabilities.

Why can't users delete these child accounts themselves?

Family management is designed to allow parents to group their children's accounts and restrict their rights. A family manager can remove adult members, but not minors. According to the support page, users must contact PlayStation Support for this. This is precisely what makes the situation so annoying: anyone who discovers an unwanted account is left without a self-service solution.

Many affected users state that they secured their accounts with two-factor authentication. Therefore, it is suspected that the main accounts were not compromised, but rather attackers found a loophole in the sign-up verification process for creating child accounts. This has not been confirmed and remains speculation.

How dangerous is this for your account and your payment information?

Financially, the damage should be limited, according to PC Games: child accounts have a default spending limit of zero, and they cannot increase their balance themselves. Credit card data also cannot be read via these accounts. It remains unclear what personal data might be accessible via these unknown accounts.

From our perspective, this is still not a minor issue. An account that you cannot control and cannot delete is tied to your family management. Until Sony provides clarity, a quick check is worthwhile.

How to check if your account is affected?

Go to Settings, then Users and Account, then Family, and finally Family Management. If an unknown entry appears there, take screenshots and contact PlayStation Support. Also, check your inbox for unexpected emails regarding a changed sign-in ID or email address, and if in doubt, change your password.

Source: PC Games

Have you discovered unknown accounts in your family management? Let us know in the comments and share this article with friends who use a PlayStation.