Seven-year-old boy makes R26k worth of in-game purchases on dad's iPhone
This little boy fell for the flashing ads that pop up during online gaming and managed to work up a bill close to R26k, all on his dad's iPhone. Ouch.
By now we are familiar with kids having their own ways when it comes to handling smart devices. But the one thing that gets us is that they are so equipped and savvy when it comes to technology and handling smart devices.
When we saw this story, the one thing that it got us thinking about was, we wonder what Vic Naidoo did as a kid that got him into trouble? Mmm, we can only imagine...
A seven-year-old boy was playing a game on his dad's iPhone and he made in-app purchases worth approximately R26k. Pause for a reaction. Yes, you heard right. When his dad eventually discovered this, it was too late.
"Ashaz played Dragons: Rise of Berk, an iPhone game, for an hour. To maintain his progress in the game, Ashaz made several in-app purchases ranging from £1.99 to £99.99," India Today reports.
Muhammad Mutaza, Ashaz's father, thought it was a scam at first and then later found out that it was purchases that his son had made on the game. The 41-year-old consultant endocrinologist was shocked to find that the free version of the game allowed unlimited purchases to players aged so young.
He appealed with Apple for some of the money to be refunded as the game is meant to be a free game, and they did refund some of the money. However, Muhammed was forced to sell his car to make payment on the rest of the total.
"Considering the game is meant for four years, and above, he argued that the amount of purchasing power is simply too much for kids aged that young," India Today added.
We can't say we disagree with him, although it was mentioned that there are other features that are designed to stop these kinds of in-app purchases, but somehow Ashaz got past these measures...
As much as there is some humour in the fact that a seven-year-old can bypass security features that many adults wouldn't be able to, it's also quite scary. Imagine if he could do that, what else could he do online...
Gets you thinking about the amount of freedom kids are given when it comes to online gaming...
Image Courtesy of Pixabay