Online games are gamers’ favorites, and those developed for mobile, for example, reach a huge audience, ranging from children to the elderly. In addition, this style of game is responsible for the majority of the gaming industry’s financial movements. Therefore, it is to be expected that there will be several opportunities for internal purchases, such as new skins or exclusive accessories.
The problem with these offers is that they can even be made in children’s games. This allows children without financial education to spend their parents’ money in just a few steps, just by having access to virtual cards. This is what happened recently in the United Kingdom, when more than R$15,000 was spent on an online game.
Child secretly spends R$15,400 on Roblox purchases
Roblox is a platform that allows players to create their own online universe from scratch and interact with other users. The game creation service is already well-known, with millions of users, mainly children. Therefore, the offer of virtual products becomes a concern for many parents.
Recently, a ten-year-old boy in Denbighshire, UK, made headlines after spending around R$15,400 (£2,500) on purchases on the popular website, without his mother knowing. Georgina Munday, the boy’s mother, said she noticed several transactions and payment confirmations for amounts close to R$125.
At first, she thought her daughter, who spent hours in front of her tablet, had been hacked. However, after seeing that the girl had changed the password for the website to allow online transactions, she concluded that it had indeed been the girl.
How was the case resolved?
Well, the 44-year-old nurse said she tried to contact her bank and Apple several times, but the refund was repeatedly denied. Fortunately, Georgina was able to resolve the situation and receive the refund shortly after the case was covered by several media outlets. That’s the power of journalism, isn’t it?
The mother says she was shocked to see that the girl had changed the password, and that it was a deliberate act, but without realizing the magnitude of the problem that this could cause.
In response to the reports, Roblox said it has a “robust policy” for processing refunds. It also said:
“Parents also have access to a set of parental controls that can be used to determine how much their children can spend and set spending notifications to increase visibility into their children’s spending on Roblox.”