A 17-year old teenager has racked up almost $8000 on his Dad’s credit card by accidentally making in-game purchases in FIFA 16. The father, Lance Perkins – who’s now been hit with the reality that he’s going to have to foot such a massive bill – spoke to CBC News, telling the station how flabbergasted he was when the bill came through just before Christmas last year.
It floored me. Literally floored me, when I’d seen what I was being charged.
Perkins continued to say that his son was unaware that his actions led to his father’s card being continually charged, believing it to be a one-time fee.
He thought it was a one-time fee for the game. He’s just as sick as I am, he never believed he was being charged for every transaction, or every time he went onto the game.
But the painful revelation doesn’t end there. CBC says that Microsoft considers the transactions to be legitimate, but that they intend to investigate the purchases in question.
Purchases made using a parent’s payment account are legitimate transactions under the Microsoft Services Agreement, and we encourage parents to use the many platform and service features we make available to prevent unapproved charges.
Ouch. Mr. Perkins is undoubtedly in a financially tight spot as a result of his son’s unintentional spending, and the story will undoubtedly raise questions on whether parental controls are made clear enough and if they inform users that they charge cardholders each time the service is used.
Unsurprisingly, Perkins has said that “there will never be another Xbox system – or any gaming system – in my home.” And really, who can blame him?
