5 Year-Old Runs Up $2,500 App Purchase with Apple

CommanderFrank

CommanderFrank

Cat Can't Scratch It
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The best advice parents can take is to always keep an eye on their kids at all times, especially when they are around anything connected to the Internet. A five year old was able to charge $2500 worth of Apps from the App Store after the father keyed in the password so his son could download a free game.

The details of the situation reveal a series of unfortunate events that led to the truly epic tab, though Apple has since refunded the money.
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The real reason why developers like iOS over Android. Cause sometimes children get their hands on one, and then buy everything.
 
Ashbringer said:
The real reason why developers like iOS over Android. Cause sometimes children get their hands on one, and then buy everything.
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Yeah. It's a flaw that you have to key in your password for a free game and that password carries over for the entire app-store session.

It's an easy fix, key in a password (or purchase PIN for ease) for every paid purchase. The session pass for free apps is suffice.
 
This was fixed a looooong time ago, just change the settings as the article says to turn off in-app purchases.
 
Parents should have bought some of those 90s Tiger LCD handheld games.
 
most people are just not aware of the enable restricted options, setting the option to ask immediately or/and set the option to disable in app buying

even when your the owner of the phone you could by mistake buy an in app in the first 15mins , unless you have done the above
 
My kid bought five dollars in stuff once, so I put the restrictions on even though hes not supposed to have it.
 
Ashbringer said:
The real reason why developers like iOS over Android. Cause sometimes children get their hands on one, and then buy everything.
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Ummm, did I read the article incorrectly? Didnt this happen on an IOS device? How in the hell did you make this into an Apple over Android issue? :rolleyes:
 
Here's the solution.

speak_and_spell_11.jpeg


BodyBagz said:
Ummm, did I read the article incorrectly? Didnt this happen on an IOS device? How in the hell did you make this into an Apple over Android issue? :rolleyes:
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I'm just pointing out something that developers have been saying for a long time. People who use iOS are more likely to purchase something then an Android user. Is that not true?
 
$2500???? That is insane.. wonder how long it took him to rack up that many apps..
 
Apple should have some sort of fraud alert like credit cards have to identify suspicious transactions. Anything over say $50 on apps within 15 minutes should be considered suspicious. Atleast it should be brought to the owners attention that they're stupid for spending that much money on apps in the first place, haha.
 
Ouch. Hopefully it was over wifi and not data or they have a 25k phone bill on the way too. :D
 
People that don't restrict settings before letting their kids touch it are idiots.

Also.. don't use a credit card for you apple account. Prepaid cards are available everywhere so even if someone your phone/password get jacked the most you can possibly be out is whatever you put in (and can get 10-20% off every few months at BestBuy or Target).
 
I don't even get why parents let the 2-3 years old play with $500 devices. Give the kid a toy, they don't need to be looking at a screen for hours on end at that age.
 
BrooksyX said:
I don't even get why parents let the 2-3 years old play with $500 devices. Give the kid a toy, they don't need to be looking at a screen for hours on end at that age.
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Yeah that's a good point too. They also make kids tablets that are like $100. Give them that instead. Angry birds? Whatever happened to stuffed animals and mega blocks?
 
BrooksyX said:
I don't even get why parents let the 2-3 years old play with $500 devices. Give the kid a toy, they don't need to be looking at a screen for hours on end at that age.
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Seriously. I do not feel bad for idiot parents like in the article. If a 5 year old happens to near my phone , I put it .. *drum roll* IN MY FUCKING POCKET :rolleyes:
 
darkpaw said:
People that don't restrict settings before letting their kids touch it are idiots.

Also.. don't use a credit card for you apple account. Prepaid cards are available everywhere so even if someone your phone/password get jacked the most you can possibly be out is whatever you put in (and can get 10-20% off every few months at BestBuy or Target).
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This is probably excellent advice for any parent allowing a young child access to their account ... and probably doesn't hurt even normal users (from a security standpoint) ... if they charge their account with gift cards (you can also purchased them directly on iTunes as well) then their liability on the account will never exceed the value of the gift card ... besides if they are making more than $100 of iTunes purchases a month (the maximum value for an individual gift card) they might want to examine their budget priorities anyway ;)
 
This story was on the news in the UK. The 5 year-old had downloaded a free zombie game. However, to get passed certain levels, in the game, he had to pay for keys. I suppose you call these payments in-game micro-transactions. He totalled up £1700 worth of in-game micro-transactions, on a so-called free-to-play zombie game, on his parents credit card, before his mother found out. The credit card company phoned up to give a warning. Eventually, they didn’t have to pay anything.
 
Spidey329 said:
Yeah. It's a flaw that you have to key in your password for a free game and that password carries over for the entire app-store session.

It's an easy fix, key in a password (or purchase PIN for ease) for every paid purchase. The session pass for free apps is suffice.
Click to expand...

Minor fix to your theory. Session pass for free and updates.

per purchase pass for purchases.
 
darkpaw said:
People that don't restrict settings before letting their kids touch it are idiots.

Also.. don't use a credit card for you apple account. Prepaid cards are available everywhere so even if someone your phone/password get jacked the most you can possibly be out is whatever you put in (and can get 10-20% off every few months at BestBuy or Target).
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Well it's too bad not everyone knows everything like you huh, Stephen Hawking? I would guess, as someone previously pointed out that most people don't know they can restrict settings.

Frankly, I think all Apple/Android devices should have their app stores get set up as password/PIN protected from the get go for everything. It should then be an option to then turn it off if you don't want to be bothered. This protects the consumer from whatever may happen, but of course big business doesn't care about the consumer these days; just how to ferret the money from them.

Also, some of you obviously do not have children. The one thing I deplore is people without children telling those with them how it should be. *Newsflash* - Until you have your own, you don't know, so shut your know-it-all pie hole. Also, while I agree kids don't need to be spending large amounts of time in front of one, there are times when its okay for short amounts of time. I trusted both of my 5 year olds and absolutely nothing ever happened to any of my devices. Imagine that.
 
Actually I have a 6 yr old who has been using either an ipod touch or ipad for 3 years now. Yes they could restrict things by default, but parents also need to understand what something is capable of before handing it off to their kids.

Now I do put a lot of the blame on the devs of these so called free programs. The ones targeted at kids especially put the buy something buttons everywhere. They also allow way to large IAP, such as $100 gem bags and such. There is no reason to have that level of IAP cost other that to scam people.
 
So a free app for his son, cost the father $2500. Wonder who learned the bigger lesson here.
 
darkpaw said:
Actually I have a 6 yr old who has been using either an ipod touch or ipad for 3 years now. Yes they could restrict things by default, but parents also need to understand what something is capable of before handing it off to their kids.

Now I do put a lot of the blame on the devs of these so called free programs. The ones targeted at kids especially put the buy something buttons everywhere. They also allow way to large IAP, such as $100 gem bags and such. There is no reason to have that level of IAP cost other that to scam people.
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Can you imagine why EA is going to put microtransactions in all their games? Playing Assassins Creed 7 on your PS4, and left the controller lying around? Your kid picks it up and buys ALL the hats for $2,500. EA trolls you and doesn't refund money.
 
Ashbringer said:
Can you imagine why EA is going to put microtransactions in all their games? Playing Assassins Creed 7 on your PS4, and left the controller lying around? Your kid picks it up and buys ALL the hats for $2,500. EA trolls you and doesn't refund money.
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Yes, it looks like things are going that way, with Sony looking to get a slice.
 
Red Squirrel said:
Whatever happened to stuffed animals and mega blocks?
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My kids stopped asking me for help with Lego. I'd help them with the one block, then finish the thing. :D It's fun, addicting, and awesome.

How some sort of alert doesn't go off with things like this is beyond me. Even without child locks, credit card attached, etc., a thief could just as well bought all that stuff to fuck with a guy. If I see someone just hitting BUY BUY BUY on every app, that would throw up a red flag.
 
EA and Activision are already two of the worst at this on mobile games. See some of the IAP prices for th Simpsons Tapped Out or Skylanders for examples. If what they do with mobile games is any indication of where they want to go for paid games, they'll basically make them unplayable without micro transactions.

I really don't mind companies putting in crap like mounts, skins, etc but then they realize if they balance games around the transactions then they'll make a lot more money. It's already prevalent in the mobile app and F2P realms, and it looks like the big companies are absolutely intending to push this structure into all games, whether or not they charged $60 for it.
 
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