5YO Girl Spent $1,500 in Mobile Game Even When No Credit Card is Stored in the Account

Online consumption is largely prevalent nowadays, what with the ongoing epidemic rendering physical businesses near obsolete.

And for the record, it comes in many forms as well, whether it’s fashion, necessities…

Or gaming items.

But here’s the thing. While adults would surely be self-aware of their spending limits, children, on the other hand, may vary. And the worst part?

They might ‘inadvertently’ spend all your hard-earned cash, even though you’ve already ascertained the proper ‘safety’ limits.

5YO Girl Spent $1,500 in Mobile Game Even When No Credit Card is Stored in the Account

According to Zaobao, a 5-year-old girl reportedly spent 1,500 yuan in a single month while playing an online game.

That’s $296 in SG dollars.

She is reported to have made more than 200 purchases on the game Roblox, with each individual buy purportedly amounting to around 5 to 8 yuan.

At this point you may wonder; who’s this young baller… the daughter of Jack Ma? Well, as it turns out…

It’s rather complicated.

See, the mother was not aware of her daughter’s incessant spending. She was also not aware that online consumption was possible, as there was apparently no phone card stored in the account and no password or authentication code provided.

Kinda makes you wonder just how it got through, really.

Apparently, single mother Ms Wang, who’s reportedly in her 30s, only realised when she received a message from Xinghe company in mid-July, stating that her June phone bill had acquired 1,480 yuan in app consumption.

And though she initially suspected that the telecommunications company had made the mistake, all hopes were soon lost when she realised that it was her daughter who had made a couple of ‘itchy finger’ decisions.

Which Was, In All Honesty, Kinda Weird

According to Ms Wang, the tablet that was being used by her daughter did not have a mobile phone card installed within, and that she did not provide a password or authentication code.

Yet, somehow, her daughter managed to make online purchases totalling 1,480 yuan.

“My daughter doesn’t know what’s going on,” she said. “She just presses it and she succeeds in spending. The kids don’t know that she has spent so much money.”

“What I can’t figure out is that when I helped the maid buy credits on the mobile app and asked her to call home, she had to scan her face or enter the verification code to make the payment.

“Why did the child not receive any Reminder or verification code? I asked the customer service staff of the telecommunications company and Apple, but I still don’t know where the problem is?”

Well, I guess only the consumer would know. Though with all things considered…

There may just have been a helping hand. 

But of course, it’s all just speculation, and I’m really not accusing Ms Wang’s neighbour Mr Wa Piang of imparting some nifty hacking tricks. So in the end…

I guess only time will tell.

Meanwhile, do make sure to observe your child’s purchase history on a daily basis, especially if he/she has access to a device with a credit card’s info installed.

While a verification code is undeniably required on many occasions, one should still be vigilant about such cases…

Or they might just end up like Ms Wang.