A six-year-old boy from the US city of Wilton, Connecticut, spent 16.2 thousand dollars (1.2 million rubles) from his mother’s credit card, buying add-ons to his favorite computer game Sonic Forces. The Daily Mail reports.
In July, 41-year-old real estate broker Jessica Johnson was working from home due to the pandemic and did not notice when their six-year-old son George took her iPad in the next room to play an online game. He has spent a fortune buying virtual “gold rings” ranging in value from $ 1.99 (146 rubles) to $ 99.99 (7.4 thousand rubles). Thus, he unlocked new characters and levels of the game.
When the woman received a bill for 16.2 thousand dollars, she thought that she had become a victim of fraud, and filed an application with the bank. The bank confirmed in October that the invoices were valid and advised Johnson to contact Apple … By that time, Apple’s 60-day chargeback deadline had passed.
Now the family will not be able to pay off the housing loan and may cancel the Christmas celebration. They said that Apple refused to return the money, arguing that the parents themselves were to blame for ignoring the parental control settings.
Johnson compared a child’s obsession with computer games with an addiction to drugs. “These games are designed to keep kids spending money on add-ons. What kind of adult would spend a hundred dollars on a chest of virtual gold coins?” – she was indignant.
When the boy was told what he had done, he offered his mother to reimburse the money spent. “How? I pay him four dollars (292 rubles) to clean the room. I had no payments from March to September. My income has dropped by 80 percent this year,” said the boy’s mother.
She noted that the child did not understand that the money was real, because he thought that once he was playing a game, he was spending virtual money.