5-year-old spends over R22 000 on game accessories in just 15 minutes.
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A mom’s attempts at keeping her 5-year-old son busy went pear-shaped after the boy inadvertently downloaded over $2 500 (R22 500) of add-on accessories for an iPad app in just 10-15 minutes.
Best zombie killer, ever!
According to Mashable, Danny Kitchen's parents allowed him to download the free game “Zombies vs. Ninjas” from the Apple App store while they were entertaining friends. The enterprisingly competitive kid then ordered additional darts and bombs to improve his score, some of the accessories costing as much as $99 each!
His mom, Sharon got 19 emails from iTunes the following day regarding the purchases, but ignored them until her credit card company called her about “suspicious activity” on her account.
Fortunately, the damage wasn’t permanent- the parents were able to, after 3 days of tense negotiations, convince Apple reps that the purchases had been made in error, and they were refunded.
Apple advised the parents to keep their passwords safe and reminded them to be aware of a 15-minute window of access after entering their password which could allow for multiple purchases. They also gave them a tutorial on parental controls and how to restrict in-app purchases.
The boy’s big spree isn’t an isolated incident- parents have previously sued platforms which allowed for in-app spending after their kids spent money on gaming accessories.
Whose fault was this potentially costly error?
By: Scott Dunlop