Child drains family’s life savings by buying $64,000 worth of mobile games and add-ons

A child has blown her family's life savings after purchasing $64,000 (£34,201) worth of mobile games and add-ons.

If this story isn’t the most effective form of birth control, I don’t know what is.

The teen in China spent a hefty amount on mobile games after finding her mother’s debit card behind her parents’ backs.

Elephant News, a regional TV channel in China, reported that Gong Yiwang became aware of her child’s spending after her boarding school informed her about her daughter’s addiction to mobile games in May last year.

B Christopher / Alamy Stock Photo

The mother then checked her bank account and found that she only had seven cents to her name.

My wallet hurts merely learning this.

Gong then discovered that from January to May, her child had spent around $16,800 (£8,981) buying game accounts and almost $30,000 (£16,038) on in-game purchases.

The teen also began transferring money to around 10 friends who wanted to purchase the game, bringing the total cost to approximately $64,000.

"I never thought a 13-year-old girl could do this," Gong told the outlet.

"I'm in a daze; my head feels like it's going to explode."

The child told the outlet that although she knew the gaming account was linked to her mother’s card, she didn’t know how much she was spending or where the money was coming from.

James Jiao / Alamy Stock Photo

"If I didn't send it to them, they would bother me all day. If I told the teacher, I was afraid that the teacher would tell my parents and that my parents would be angry," she said.

The teen even went as far as to delete transaction records so her parents wouldn’t discover her purchases.

Gong revealed she has reached out to a few payment platforms but is yet to be promised a refund.

It comes after a 10-year-old child made around AUD $4,676 (£2,500) worth of Roblox purchases from her mother's account.

BBC News reported that the children changed the password on her iPad without her mum's knowledge.

Georgina Munday of Denbighshire has warned other parents to 'be vigilant' regarding their children's online activity.

Munday said her daughter, who has autism, had been playing on her tablet for longer recently due to being off school after struggling in mainstream education.

She added: "We'd just seen hundreds of transactions, these payment confirmations, so then the panic set in - oh my gosh, whose card is this on?"

Once the mother realised it was her daughter’s spendings, she called her bank, which initially refused a refund.

However after BBC Radio 4's You and Yours took up the case, the mother was issued her money back.

"I cried - it was just a relief, a weight off my shoulders," she said.