12-Year-Old Rings Up $1400 Farmville Bill

[Gamegodtre]

Yeah I barely trust my 19 year old brother with a credit card, let alone a 12 year old. What was this woman thinking?

Here the conversion
Kid
Mommy can i have your credit card
Mom
What for?
Kid
Farmville
Mom
sure (thinking: how much can he possibly spend on some stupid game)

on a side note you know how many months of a MMO that could have got him.

 

[Gamegodtre]

14,000 dollars?......14,000 dollars? How is he shocked about the cost? They label the price when you buy the Currency!

Honestly, that stuff can't cost that much in one go. It's not like one thing costs around 100 dollars or something. How do you honestly ring up 14,000 dollars worth of 5 dollar items in a few days and then act shocked when the bill comes in?

I think the Kid is the one at fault here. He needs to learn self-control and that he can't always get what he wants. The mother also should proably put some secruity in place to make sure that this dosen't happen again.

think you mean 1400

 

[Gamegodtre]

Facebook's terms of use say that you must be 13 to use it. I loled.

can't she get a lawsuit out of facebook for this or would it be facebook?

 

[MurderousToaster]

Issue here:

12-Year-Old Rings Up $1400 Farmville Bill

You have to be 13 for a Facebook account. Shouldn't his account have been disabled before this incident?

 

[Gaias]

Nothing wrong with playing Farmville and only the stupid people pay for it when they do play a free game.

 

[koriantor]

Facebook's terms of use say that you must be 13 to use it. I loled.

can't she get a lawsuit out of facebook for this or would it be facebook?

Facebook'd say it's her fault, it clearly says it in the terms (although, who really reads those?).

Besides, for somethign like that, she shouldn't sue. I applaud her for being responsible.

 

[The Candyman]

I know a twelve year old who, while it wasn't $1,400, still used her mothers credit card on Facebook for a stupid game (Not Farm Town)

 

[maxusy3k]

Nice to know that Zynga's perfectly cool with credit-card fraud so long as you live in the same residence.

What the hell kind of card is that where the bank requires police involvement to stop the charge? It should be a bloody routine thing of "charges refused" that goes back to Zynga and then it puts the onus on Zynga to deal with it. I wonder.. being an entirely online provider, it's difficult to say what damages they even suffered from this. The system is likely automated, so no labour on their part. No physical goods have changed hands.. it's essentially money for nothing.. so if they don't get the money, then they're out the nothing. How do you sue for nothing?

Advice 1 for this lady: watch your kid.
Advice 2: Get a different credit card provider.

Uh, most banks or card providers would require police involvement to refuse charges. By involving the police, you are officially declaring that you have been defrauded and requesting their involvement in investigation. You would still likely not get your money back until the fraudsters have been apprehended, but that largely depends on the institution in question.

If this wasn't the case, I could quite easily go down to the store, max out my credit card buying anything and everything I choose, then come home and tell the credit card company I never left the house. What are the credit card company supposed to do in that situation? Clear all the charges and let the store deal with it?

 

[CJ1145]

Well, I'm going to be inclined to blame the parent in this case. Question: how on earth did he get hold of his mother's credit card in the first place? I realise there's far, far better places to blow $1400 than a flash game (a jewellers, for instance), but that is not the problem in this case.

Theft. We've already established this child is a fucktard, he'd probably resort to stealing if it meant getting him his shinies.

The only one at fault here is the son, although Zynga's kind of being a dick about this whole thing. I think it's akin to (but on a lesser scale) having your identity stolen, and then when the person who sold Not-You stuff realizes it wasn't you and you were the victim of a potentially life-ruining crime, they say "Them's the breaks. Cough up money or things start breaking."

 

[Snowalker]

4) A 12 year old with $400 in savings? This kid obviously gets everything he wants, or he wouldn't have just swanned over to Mommy's credit card once he'd blown all that money.

I agree with everything stated except for that right there. Ever heard of college? I hear it isn't very cheap, and the sooner you start saving the better. Who knows what that $400 is for. We won't know unless the mother tells, so I can't say that the kid is spoiled simply because he had a savings account. I have had a saving account from before I was even born( Dad made one when I was in the womb). Course, only here recently have I actually been able to do anything with it. It has over $2,000 in it. Does that make me spoiled? I mean, I won't use the money, its for college, but I could if I wanted to. (Which I really don't)

 

[dsmops2003]

That kid deserves to catch a beatin'

 

[Koganesaga]

Holy fucking shit, a parent who doesn't look to pass the buck when shit hits the fan with their kid? Excellent madam, I personally applaud you for not looking to blame everyone but your son, and I mean that, it's about time people took responsibility for their kids fuck-ups instead of jumping down the troughs of the people who made the games or everyone else who had a hand in this, seriously good job.

 

[Snowalker]

4) A 12 year old with $400 in savings? This kid obviously gets everything he wants, or he wouldn't have just swanned over to Mommy's credit card once he'd blown all that money.

I agree with everything stated except for that right there. Ever heard of college? I hear it isn't very cheap, and the sooner you start saving the better. Who knows what that $400 is for. We won't know unless the mother tells, so I can't say that the kid is spoiled simply because he had a savings account. I have had a saving account from before I was even born( Dad made one when I was in the womb). Course, only here recently have I actually been able to do anything with it. It has over $2,000 in it. Does that make me spoiled? I mean, I won't use the money, its for college, but I could if I wanted to. (Which I really don't)

 

[El gazibo]

farmville is worse than crack

 

[RubyT]

I think Zynga has put a sort of security system in place: Credit Card required.

If she gave her son the CC information, shame on her. If the son "obtained" that information, shame on him.

Farmville is temporary insanity. Even more so than your average MMORPG. People would probably get a bad case of cognitive dissonance if you'd ask them to write an Essay of just 50 words explaining the logic behind purchasing a f*cking pixel armor or some virtual farm equipment for a lame a$$ facebook time wasting app.

If Zynga started refunding "abuse by minors", they'd get a lot of people claiming it was all their kids' fault, 2 weeks after pimping their farm.

 

[Mr.PlanetEater]

14,000 dollars?......14,000 dollars? How is he shocked about the cost? They label the price when you buy the Currency!

Honestly, that stuff can't cost that much in one go. It's not like one thing costs around 100 dollars or something. How do you honestly ring up 14,000 dollars worth of 5 dollar items in a few days and then act shocked when the bill comes in?

I think the Kid is the one at fault here. He needs to learn self-control and that he can't always get what he wants. The mother also should proably put some secruity in place to make sure that this dosen't happen again.

In soviet Russia Zero's add you to number
Hoenstly, if I was the parent I'd have slapped the kid's hands away from the keyboard. And called the cops, so what if he'll never get a job again but after committing Fraud with a credit card on Farmville no less he doesn't deserve a job. Then I'd go drown myself for being stupid enough to let a 12 year old get away with the Fraud, seriously folks you can check your bill online and if there's unusual spikes cancel the card all together, don't just wait around twiddling your thumbs.

 

[Flour]

Does some fault not lie with Facebook and Farmville for allowing the under-age child to commit fraud in the first place?

No, for a very simple reason.

Spoiler: Nothing on the internet can be confirmed.

Taken from a website which I obviously can't link to. While this is sarcasm, the point is that that "adult" can be the 12 year old that finds a random link to the website.(what 12 year old doesn't think he or she should be able to see or do anything they want?)

 

[William Dickbringer]

I say the mom should take everything from the kid for a LONG time and to stay in his empty room only to come out when there's work around the house and for food but that's just me

 

[Aptspire]

My advice to him: "Hey kid, next time you should give ME 1400$. I'll lend you the gaming machines I buy in return..."
jk

 

[Sebenko]

Gahh put the costs in £s! Not $s!

Agreed. How do you mention cost so many times in a UK article and not use our good old sterling once?

This disappoints me greatly.