Child, 6, Secretly Spends $16K on "Sonic Forces," Mom Thought She Was a Fraud Victim

Kids these days are more in-tune with technology, gadgets, and games than most adults, so it's not a shock to see a six-year-old kid playing their favorite games on an iPad--however, this can go rather badly, such as the case of a mom who was surprised to know her young son racked up $16,000 from her credit card with in-app purchases.

Secretly Racking Up $16,000

In a report by the New York Post, Jessica Johnson, a 41-year-old real estate broker, didn't know of the purchases made by his son, George, until July 9, when she saw 25 charges on her credit card that totaled $2,500.

George was playing his favorite game, the iPad version of "Sonic Forces," and bought the add-on boosters that were available for starting $1.99 for 150 red rings and went as much as $99.99 for The Hoard, which includes 17,500 red rings.

By getting the boosters, George would be able to gain more speed and unlock new characters.

When Jessica discovered that Apple and PayPal have been charging her Chase account, which eventually totaled to $16,293.10, the mother immediately thought she was the victim of a fraud.

So, in July, Jessica filed for a fraud claim, clueless about George's transactions.

Refusing a Refund

After a few months, Chase got back to Jessica, saying that the charges were indeed hers and that she needs to call Apple--and so she did and learned the truth about the mysterious $16,000 bill.

According to the real estate broker, she was walked through by Apple in a "buried running list of all the charges. You wouldn't know how to [find] it without someone directing you."

She also made the connection when she saw the Sonic icons.

Unfortunately, Apple can't do anything about the charges since apparently, Jessica was unable to contact them within 60 days of the charges, but the mother was unable to call them as she was told by Chase that she might be a victim of fraud and that Paypal and Apple are top fraud charges.

According to AppleInsider, Jessica told Apple Support that she wouldn't be able to make their mortgage payment because of the charge, but apparently, the customer service agent's only response was, "There's a setting, you should have known."

Apple's Preventive Options

The mother did admit she did not put any preventive settings on her iOS account, but that was because she did not know they existed.

"Obviously, if I had known there was a setting for that, I wouldn't have allowed my 6-year-old to run up nearly $20,000 in charges for virtual gold rings," she said.

Moreover, she said that these games were "designed to be completely predatory," further commenting that no grown-up would actually spent a hundred dollars for some virtual coins and that her young kid did not know he was spending real money.

Apple, PayPal, and even Sega did not comment about Johnson's case.

Over the years, Apple has offered several parental control options to help parents manage their kids' access to their Apple devices, including macOS computers.

This article is owned by Tech Times

Written by: Nhx Tingson