My son spent $12,000 on an app... trying to kill a dragon

IN the space of 10 days, my nine-year-old son left our family broke and in debt after “accidentally” spending $12,000 on an app while trying to slay dragons.

CATHERINE NIKAS-BOULOS

You know how you read about those naughty, feverish kids who have racked up gaming bills in the hundreds and you think: how stupid must your parents be? Where were the adults when this was happening? Quick, call the Department for Child Protection. Serves them right for not monitoring their child’s iPad activity, now pay up suckers!

Allow me to take off my righteous hat and to hang my head in deep, deep shame. My chin is practically touching my toes.

One day, in the very distant future, I might even be able to laugh about this. “Family and friends, thanks for joining us to celebrate our sons’ 21st. He has always been the most awesome of kids... except for that time he racked up a $12,000 iTunes debt.”

(Pause for nervous laughter).

Yes, you read right... twelve-THOUSAND-dollars. You see, my nine-year-old son found himself needing extra assistance to slay dragons while playing the app, Dragon City. In a matter of days, he was able to log on to iTunes and buy gems (the dragon-slaying type), that would drain my credit card, subsequently causing a backlog in Coles with me standing there, trolley overflowing and a credit card that was as useful as Monopoly money.

As the ice cream in my trolley slowly melted, so did any hope of having my bank’s fraud department look into why my credit card was now useless.

Since becoming a dad, Kanye West has been very vocal about his dislike for in-app purchases on kids’ games. (Pic: Getty)

The call to the bank was heartbreaking. Nope, my card had not been skimmed, that was wishful thinking. The awful truth was a child, in my house, on my iPad, was playing a game that required in-app purchases. I repeat: it cost $12,000 to slay some stupid dragons.

In fairness to him, he didn’t know he was dealing with actual money. He gets to spend a couple of bucks at the canteen, now he was splurging like a Kardashian topping up his gem pool, $159 a go. Who plays and pays that kind of money non-accidentally? The rich kids of Instagram maybe, but when my plane is in the workshop my kids fly coach — if you get my drift.

In order to feed the family, we had to borrow $500 from my in-laws and bills were put on the backburner. We had no access to our money. The bank ripped up our credit cards, which were linked to our savings account. What. The. Hell? Broke and in debt — I love this kid, but sheesh, he was killing me.

I could only blame myself for allowing this to happen, and in a desperate phone call to iTunes I laid it all on the line. I may have said: “Give me my $12,000 back and this child gets to live… ”

On the other end of the line, the staff member assigned to my case was sympathetic, but casually unfazed. This happens a lot, I was told, (sigh, relief) — but $12,000 was an extraordinarily high amount. She logged the case an “accidental purchase” and gave me a stern talking to about how to manage the security settings on my device.

In 2014, Apple was ordered to pay back $32.5m for accidental in-app purchases, presumably made by kids while their parents assumed they were doing Mathletics homework. We talk about adults losing time and shitloads of money in casinos, but jeez, this online gaming/in-app purchases business for kids is really no better.

Who would have thought I’d ever be on the same page as Kanye West?

It took two weeks for the money to be returned, by which time I cancelled my credit card, the iTunes password is now set to something so complex and long, I actually don’t remember what it is, and I signed up all three of my kids to after school activities so they don’t have a spare minute to slay any more dragons.

FYI: Said child has been banned from playing ANY games on ANY computer until his 21st birthday.

Originally published as My son spent $12,000 on an app... trying to kill a dragon