If you've ever played a free mobile game, you know that these apps aren't so much free
as they are an invitation to toss your entire life savings in the trash can.
In-app purchases tempt even the most experienced gamers.
But what happens when it's a kid playing the game, and those microtransactions are paid
for with mom and dad's credit card?
Exactly what you would expect to happen.
Here's a look at some kids who spent a ton of their parents' money on gaming.
The Apple Store
If you're going to blow $4,500 on games like Nova 3, Gun Bros 2, and Plants vs. Zombies,
you might want to make sure your dad isn't a cop first.
That's the lesson learned by 13-year-old Cameron Crosson, who swears his 2013 spending spree
was accidental.
Since the credit card company wasn't buying it, though, dad did what he had to do and
filed a fraud charge against his own son in order to get his money back.
Dad told The Telegraph he wasn't very happy with Apple's refusal to refund the money.
"None of us had any knowledge of what was happening as there was no indication in the
game that he was being charged."
Counter-Strike
In Counter-Strike, players can earn skins, in-game items that trick weapons out with
colors, flames, and more.
Since the skins can be traded between players on the Steam Community, they're worth actual,
real dollars.
So, of course, players have developed a secret, illegal underground gambling ring, where people
bet on the outcome of matches using skins — and one 18-year-old, named Jordan Bruce,
stole his dad's credit card and racked up an $1,800 bill gambling on the game.
That's a lot of money for some fancy looking digital guns.
Ouch.
Xbox Live
Back in 2011, Dawn Jordan was a single mom working two jobs to support her son Brandon,
who was 11 at the time.
Part of that support involved using her credit card to maintain the subscription of his favorite
Xbox game.
Unfortunately, that led to Brandon dropping roughly $1,700 on a wild, online spending
spree.
Jordan told The Daily Mail that her son didn't realize he was spending so much money, and
he apparently burst into tears when he found out what he'd done.
Jordan blamed Microsoft for allowing kids to make in-game purchases.
"When he is in gaming mode he can't be thinking about the money.
You can't put all that responsibility on a young boy… companies should take some responsibility.
They take advantage of vulnerable people."
Of course, this is nothing new.
"First of all, the peer pressure starts.
I feel maybe exploited."
"Psychologists offices might get more crowded this holiday season.
At $200, the Super Nintendo setup costs twice as much as the old system, and you can't mix
and match."
Video games: terrible for all children forever.
Zombies vs. Ninjas
Danny Kitchen of Warmly, England, was 5 years old when he bought packages of virtual keys,
darts, and other sorts of power-ups in Zombies vs. Ninjas on the iPad.
Over the course of just 10 minutes, he managed to spend over $2,500 of his parents' money.
Fortunately, Apple ended up refunding that money.
And as for Danny, he told The Telegraph, "I was worried and I felt sad.
I was crying.
I'm not sure how I did it, I thought it was free…
It was a good game, but I will never do anything like this again.
I'm banned from the iPad now."
This is probably what Danny's dad did the next day:
"NOOOOOOOOO!"
Tiny Monsters
If there's one game you definitely want to avoid letting your kids play, it's Tiny Monsters,
which has made the news multiple times due to little kids spending big fortunes.
In 2012, 6-year-old Will Smith —
— Not that one —
— spent roughly $2,700 in order to skip to the end of the game and fight the big bad
guy.
That seems like a lot of money to pay to avoid playing the game, don't you think?
Then, just a year later, a pair of brothers aged 6 and 8 spent roughly $4,300 in just
three hours, leading their dad to head to Twitter for some good old fashioned internet
raging.
In both cases, the parents were eventually able to get their money back despite the damage
done by their own tiny monsters.
Dragon City
In the real world, $12,000 can get you a lot of things — a new car, the down payment
on a house, a dream vacation.
In the world of crappy iPad games, however, it might not even be enough to slay one pesky
dragon.
"AAAAHHHHHH!"
That's the life lesson learned by a 9-year-old boy, who racked up a five figure bill on his
mom's credit card while playing Dragon City.
Even worse, the card was linked to her bank account, so he drained the family's entire
life savings.
According to the kid's mom, they had to borrow money to eat before finally getting their
savings refunded several weeks later.
And her son?
Well, he bought himself a complete ban on all gaming until he turns 21.
Of course, if she wants to be sure this will never happen again, there is one more step
she can take.
"NOOOOOOOOO!"
iTunes
If you want proof that this sort of thing could happen to anyone, look no further than
Jack Black, who revealed on the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon that his 8-year-old son
Sam spent over $3,000 buying virtual diamonds on his favorite iPad app.
"This game is designed for children, it's marketed to children, and then there's a hundred-dollar
thing in-app?!"
Luckily, Black had something going for him these other poor parents didn’t: the power
of celebrity.
"and I think they're going
to give me a refund thanks to being on this show and telling them to give me a refund."
Still, there's probably one more step he should take...just to be sure this doesn't happen
again.
"NOOOOOOOOO!"
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