FarmVille user runs up £900 debt

[luke_c]

A 12-year-old boy spent £625 on his mother's credit card and £288 of his own savings on Facebook game FarmVille

A mother has warned of the risk of children spending hundreds of pounds on "free" online games available through Facebook after her 12-year-old son ran up bills of more than £900 without her knowledge.

The woman, who prefers to remain anonymous, discovered last month that her son had spent more than £900 on FarmVille. He had emptied his own savings account of £288 and had used her credit card to the tune of £625 to pay the bills.

FarmVille, one of the most popular games on Facebook, allows members to manage a virtual farm by planting, growing and harvesting crops, trees and livestock. New users are given virtual coins to set up their farm, and the revenue from matured crops can be used to maintain it. But those who are desperate to progress more quickly can buy extra virtual coins using real cash.

The mother said: "The first use of my card was on 14 March. I discovered it on the 29th and the card was stopped at that point. Any transactions after that date were already in the system, so what I thought was a £427 spend turned into £625 over the next few days.

"The total spend is about £905, but the credits are still rolling in. Facebook and [game creator] Zynga will not refund anything as [the son] lives in my house. Facebook has disabled his account and Zynga has unhelpfully suggested I use password protection on computers in the future."

She contacted her credit card company, HSBC, but was told she would only qualify for a refund if she reported her son to the police and obtained a crime number. "He would be cautioned and I have been told that this caution would stay with him. Obviously the idea of a stupid farm simulation jeopardising his future earnings is not something that I want to consider," she said.

She added that her son was "very shocked" when confronted with the amount he had spent, but it was clear he knew what he was doing. "When I asked him why he did it he said that they had brought out 'good stuff that I wanted'."

She does not blame Facebook, Zynga or HSBC, saying that her son was the one using the card and is entirely at fault. But she added: "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."

A spokeswoman for HSBC said that had the credit card been used on a gambling site it would have started alarm bells ringing for "unusual usage". But because the card had been used to buy Facebook credits HSBC did not consider the transactions to be suspicious, even though £625 was spent in just two weeks.

Michael Arrington, founder of the Techcrunch blog, criticised Zynga last year for "monetising" the game, and warned that people who didn't have access to a credit card to buy extra virtual money could use "pay by mobile" companies instead.

The indebted 12-year-old has not used his mobile to pay for virtual money, his mother said, but only because his older brother lost all his credit buying a ringtone a couple of years ago.

"We sound terribly technologically unaware don't we? I wouldn't mind but I am always explaining that all of these online offers, ringtones and games are a scam designed to take money off stupid people. Kids know best though."

Source.


lul

 

[omgpwn666]

Some people really have problems, real life cash for in game goods... when will they learn!?

 

[prowler]

Some people really have problems, real life cash for in game goods... when will they learn!?

If you have money to spare/left over, then it's alright.
Obviously in this case, it's not.

 

[House Spider]

Thats gotta be a funny story.

 

[Guild McCommunist]

If you spend any cash on FarmVille you know you've already lost the game. Not the game of FarmVille, but the game of life in general.

And what a dumb mother. My mom usually lets me make online purchases with her card but I'm responsible enough to only buy what I know I can afford (I usually just give the money to her so she can deposit it). Even when I was 12 I'm sure I was smart enough not to do this dumb crap.

 

[Hadrian]

People actually buy things with money on this? Nothing you can buy on this is worth the money.

Never got into it, just like the Pet one was a watered down Animal Crossing, this is just a watered down Harvest Moon only with less point.

The Mrs plays it a lot, she even made another account for my cat just so she can cheat on it. All I hear is her clicking constantly on it, noob bitch...I mean bless her.

 

[Raika]

I remember my idiot of a younger brother doing the exact same thing, except it was for a game called "Adventure Quest" or something, and the "debt" wasn't that large. He kept denying that he did it but it was clearly stated that it was his account. I said "fuck just ban his goddamn account" and now it's banned, and my mother was actually stupid enough to half-believe my brother. Lolstupidkid.

 

[ProtoKun7]

Lol failbook.

The mother should report him to the police; that'll teach the little git.

 

[AceOfAces]

Yeah, I agree.

 

[Hop2089]

MMOs they are bad for you and everyones' wallet.

 

[KevInChester]

Just a few things about this lady's reaction:

1) Your kid deserves a slap for stealing your credit card.
2) Supervise your child online.
3) Send your kid out to play with real people instead of letting him sit on the net playing with facebook for hours on end.
4) For £2 you could buy him a bumper pack of real seeds and show him the miracle of plant growth together and teach him something and give yourself a break from sitting on your backside updating your own facebook account.
5) Talk of endangering his future earnings is moot, anyone stupid enough to spend nearly a grand on a virtual farm isn't going to be a big earner. Once he gets his own credit card he will most likely quickly put himself into a lifetime of debt buying pointless rubbish.

First comment on that article echoes pretty much my sentiments entirely.

 

[UltraMagnus]

that kid better be washing the dishes for a looooong time.

 

[iFish]

Why would somebody even play FarmVille!?!?!? i hate it so much!!

 

[Danny600kill]

People actually buy things with money on this? Nothing you can buy on this is worth the money.

Never got into it, just like the Pet one was a watered down Animal Crossing, this is just a watered down Harvest Moon only with less point.

The Mrs plays it a lot, she even made another account for my cat just so she can cheat on it. All I hear is her clicking constantly on it, noob bitch...I mean bless her.

Cat Orc is on facebook? were

OT : I don't see how he could spend that much, is there even that much stuff to buy?

 

[crystal107]

lol omg, I was using paypal when I was 13-12 with my mom's credit card, I always told her what I spend money on, and it was usually REAL things lol... I'm so shocked, how much stupid can a kid be...

P.S. I do spend money (my own) nowdays playing WoW, but that's nothing compared to a half-assed harvest moon game.

 

[Advi]

My little brother does this with World of Warcraft. And he gets off the hook on a regular basis. It's amazing how parents can just let their kids get ahold of their credit cards...

 

[Bladexdsl]

what a fucktard peeps who actually pay to by virtual shit are not only stupid but incredibly stupid!

 

[1NOOB]

what a fucktard peeps who actually pay to by virtual shit are not only stupid but incredibly stupid!

what about a game on steam

lol

 

[Schizoanalysis]

crazy waste of money

 

[ChaosBoi]

Back in my day, we didn't get to use credit cards at the age of 12. We either have to buy prepaid cards, or just suck it up and accept that you will either never get to buy it, or someone else will sell it to you for virtual currency.

In all seriousness, I wonder why the mother even entrusted her credit card to the kid, especially since he's only 12. If it were me though, I'd be spending that money on something materialistic other than something virtual (Especially if that virtual item is consumable).