12-Year-Old Rings Up $1400 Farmville Bill

[HavoK 09]

man 1400$... that could get him a too quality pc... but NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO farmville is better.
I never though that a game that pointless could lead to such stupid consequences, i rather pay 60$ for a REAL game an never have to pay anything else again.
This also show how much greedy Zynga can be and how mindless their costumers are.
still in the end its all parents fault.

 

[NotAPie]

I mean, Xbox Live gave back someone's money because their freaking dog bought a load by chewing on the controller. I see no reason why at least Facebook could see the fowl and fix it.

Why the hell am I hearing about this now? Lemme see! Lemme seeee!!!!

Anyway ontopic, I don't know why someone would spend so much on a flash game.

 

[Troublesome Lagomorph]

I facepalm on both the parent and child's behalf.
The child for spending so much money and the parent for not supervising the child.

 

[Quaidis]

I mean, Xbox Live gave back someone's money because their freaking dog bought a load by chewing on the controller. I see no reason why at least Facebook could see the fowl and fix it.

Why the hell am I hearing about this now? Lemme see! Lemme seeee!!!!

Anyway ontopic, I don't know why someone would spend so much on a flash game.

It was on the Escapist a while back. Here, catch this link:

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/95891-Xbox-Live-Gets-First-Officially-Recognized-Dog-Member

 

[elricik]

With 1400 dollars he could have a bought a PS3 with Uncharted 2 and MGS4, and still would have money left over for an xbox360 and a copy of MW2 as well as Mass Effect 1 and 2. Why anyone would pay even one dollar for some virtual farm crap is beyond me.

 

[Outlaw Torn]

More advertising for Scamga I see.

 

[CloggedDonkey]

and no one has brought up MM yet, you all get cookies

Spoiler: cookie!

anyway, I'm glad she realizes it is not Facebook's or Zynga's(I have probably typed that word more in the last few days then I have "the") fault, but the boy's. on one hand, he's twelve and really doesn't know better, but one the other other hand, what the fuck do you buy on farmville for 1400$ anyway?

 

[SnootyEnglishman]

So Zynga telling her to make a password that your son doesn't know about so he can't do shit like this in the future is "unhelpful"? You must either be a very greedy lady or you're just stupid.

 

[Soods]

1400$ means a lot of potatoes....

 

[Proteus214]

Didn't something similar happen not too long ago with another 12 year old in the UK raking up a ridiculous credit card bill on XBox Live?

 

[Joe Deadman]

and no one has brought up MM yet, you all get cookies

Spoiler: cookie!

anyway, I'm glad she realizes it is not Facebook's or Zynga's(I have probably typed that word more in the last few days then I have "the") fault, but the boy's. on one hand, he's twelve and really doesn't know better, but one the other other hand, what the fuck do you buy on farmville for 1400$ anyway?

But you just did 0_0. Well done you just had to ruin it didn't you!

OT: That's pretty bad of the kid. Don't they have extra security on cards these days like the pin part of chip and pin?
Or does that not apply on the internet? Maybe they should implement something like that if they haven't.
But yeah that's kids for you and she really shouldn't have let him anywhere near her credit card in the first place.

 

[Vitor Goncalves]

She thinks there should be a password for when you make charges ON ZYNGA GAMES, which I agree with.

Zynga's unhelpful advice was that she should have put passwords on her entire computer in anticipation of her son spending a thousand dollars online, that's just stupid.

I agree with u, wich parent puts passwords on his kid computer. And the credit card would be easy for him to nick when she was in the bathroom or going next door to speak with a neighbor, could happen to anybody.

Even blaming her fault not putting password on the cumputers, but facebook/zynga not prompting card protection as they should is serious. He wouldnt have do anything if it required a safety check. Unfortunetly there are still many sites out there not using it.

"Facebook has disabled his account and Zynga has unhelpfully suggested I use password protection on computers in the future."

"I do think they need to shoulder some responsibility in this business and put systems in place to stop this happening again. The fact that he was using a card in a different name should bring up some sort of security and the online secure payment filter seems to be bypassed for Facebook payments,"

we are not talking, as danpascooch said, about the same thing, and she does say they should shoulder , meaning share responsability, not take it all.

 

[Jaebird]

And the award for "Dumbass with Money" goes to...this kid.

 

[HavoK 09]

dont give it to him! He will sell it just for more Farmville money!

 

[Virgil]

Wow, 1200 USD is one hell of a lot of money to blow on a game. I hope that kid finds some way of paying back his mother though.

I managed to rack up a $600 phone bill for my parents back in the days of modems and long-distance BBSs. Not only did I never see that modem again, they also found a way for me to make up for the debt. It was a very long summer.

Not a lesson I ever forgot, I can assure you. Hopefully this incident will be a (unfortunate and expensive) learning experience for everyone involved.

 

[Enigma6667]

Of all the things to waste your money at, Farmville is the worst.

 

[rekabdarb]

Beat him with gardening tools and say "WELL IF YOU WANNA FARM WHY NOT MAKE THE YARD LOOK NICE!"

 

[Lamppenkeyboard]

1400?

Any of us could have done such better with that amount.

Aww well, guess that is just 14 grand accidentally DROPPED INTO A VOLCANO!

 

[Scde2]

Imagine how many console/pc games he could've bought with that $1400.