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Boy Spends Over £12k On Video Games On Mum's Credit Card

Boy Spends Over £12k On Video Games On Mum's Credit Card

George bought dozens of in-game boosters, racking up a huge bill

Dominic Smithers

Dominic Smithers

A very young gamer spent over $16,000 (£11,993) on his mum's credit card playing Sonic Forces.

George Johnson, from Wilton, Connecticut, rinsed his parent's account on Apple app-store charges for the video game.

According to reports, over the course of June, the six-year-old purchased a number of add-ons to the game - for new players, etc. - with prices ranging from $1.99 (£1.49) to $99.99 (£74.95).

On one day alone, George spent $2,500 (£1,874) of his mum's money on 25 boosters, and in October, Jessica Johnson realised that she had been stung for $16,293.10 (£12,213).

Speaking to The New York Post, Ms Johnson said she didn't have a clue what was going on.

She said: "It's like my 6-year-old was doing lines of cocaine - and doing bigger and bigger hits."

Jessica Johnson says Apple refused to help her.
Supplied

With hundreds being taken out of her account through Apple and PayPal, Ms Johnson believed it must have been fraud.

But it was only after contacting Apple, and being shown each and every purchase, when Ms Johnson realised that it was her son who was to blame - though Apple refused to do anything about it, she says.

"The way the charges get bundled made it almost impossible [to figure out that] they were from a game," the angry mother said.

"[Apple] said, 'Tough'. They told me that, because I didn't call within 60 days of the charges, that they can't do anything.

"The reason I didn't call within 60 days is because Chase told me it was likely fraud - that PayPal and Apple.com are top fraud charges."

Ms Johnson admits that she hadn't put any preventative measures in place to stop her son using her bank details on the game, but believes it's the games and the companies behind them that are to blame.

And having been out of work between March and September, the expense has hit the family's purse very hard.

Speaking to LADbible, she said she has had no support from Apple over the issue, and believes they should have raised it when huge amounts of money were being taken from her account.

George spent thousands of dollars on the Sonic game.
Sega

She said: "I have received no communication from Apple.

"I believe the real issues here are that these games are predatory and I have now learned that even in the gaming community, they are controversial given that they are designed to become addictive to children and foster compulsive behavior - much like gambling in a casino.

"I'm disheartened by how many people have reached out with similar stories and with more dire financial consequences than my family.

"The world we live in today moves fast and the pandemic has most parents being forced to rely on technology to keep our kids entertained while we work from home.

"I am appalled that Apple and Sega point the finger at each other when clearly Sega designed it this way and Apple, pushes these games to children.

"Also, despite completely abnormal charges on my account (twelve charges in a row on the same day for $106.34 for example), Apple did not trigger any pause or notification on my account.

"But now that I have challenged the purchases, they have warned me they they may delete my account entirely if this happens again."

LADbible has contacted Apple and Sega for a comment.

Featured Image Credit: Sega

Topics: GAMING, US News, Technology, Apple