It’s every parent’s nightmare when they give their kids an iPad: a young teen dropped over €37,000 – $46,000 – for in-app purchases in “Game of War: Fire Age.”
Belgian news site Niewsblad reported the issue, adding that it was the teen’s grandfather that had received the bill.
The teen’s mother asked for help setting up her tablet so that it can purchase and download ebooks; revealing her credit card information in the process.
The child then proceeded to link that credit card to the child’s iTunes account and promptly bought 9.2 million gold in the game’s virtual store for €37,000.
The mother claims that the child did not know there was real money involved in the purchases, but those claims are dodgy at best.
After all, do you really think someone could go through the hoops of linking a credit card to an iTunes account and then not know that there’s real money involved?
The Federal Trade Commission as well as the Europe’s Consumer Protection Cooperation Network may be taking steps to minimize cases like this, but the responsibility of policing in-app purchases still lies within the owners of devices.
This very useful article from PhoneArena.com sheds light on how parents and guardians can block in-app purchases with passwords.
Got a similar horror story of your own to share?
Leave your thoughts and opinions in the comments section below!
*Image courtesy of “BimXD” at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
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