Schoolboy, six, leaves family with £2000 iPad game app bill

[Jazzy]

A young schoolboy left his family with a £2000 credit card bill after using an app on his grandfather’s iPad.



Will Smith, six, unwittingly embarked on the spending spree while playing Monster Island, a popular children’s video game.



Fraud squad officers became suspicious of the activity on the family credit card, only to discover that it was the schoolboy who had spent the money.



The youngster had spent the amount on the special app, which involves children collecting and breeding their own online creatures.



Players then battle their way through the different levels before they reach the “Dark Monster”.



Will had racked up the bill after accessing his grandfather’s password to iTunes, the Apple music store, where bought virtual food and coins at up to £70 a time.



But his family had no idea that he was spending the vast amounts of money.

It was only discovered after his grandmother went to use her credit card at a local Tesco store, where it was declined.



“I must have synced my credit card up with the App Store and Will has just been pressing buttons buying baskets of food and coins for his monsters,” Will’s grandfather, Barry Smith, told the Daily Mirror.



I can't believe how easy it is for kids to buy things. Will's only six.



Mr Smith, of Redcar, North Yorks, said, when he explained the situation to Apple, officials agreed to refund the amount.



But while the family were relieved to discover they were not the victims of fraud, Will was upset when told he could not play the game anymore.



His mother, Nicola, 32, said: Will was really upset - he was about to reach Level 26 and fight the Dark Monster.



An Apple spokesman was unavailable for comment.

Source

Lucky that Apple agreed to refund the money. This is another case of parents having no clue what their children are doing. I think just punishment would have been for Apple to tell this parents that they should have known what a six year old was doing and held them responsible for the bill.



What do you think?

 

[Evil Eye]

I think just punishment would have been for Apple to tell this parents that they should have known what a six year old was doing and held them responsible for the bill.

Sure, but Apple wouldn't do that because it'd be rather bad advertising.

Anyway, people shouldn't let their kids play with things that hold credit card data... also, most things shouldn't hold that data.

 

[JetWing34]

Tip to parents, grandparents, uncles, aunts, and other family members:



DO NOT ALLOW YOUR CHILDREN HAVE ACCESS TO THE APP STORE ON YOUR iPAD/iPHONE/iPOD!