A 15-year-old Flemish boy has spent a whopping 37,000 euros (roughly $46,700) on the free-to-play iOS title Game of War: Fire Age.
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While Game of War is free to download it features a number of in-game purchases, which the boy bought using his mother’s credit card in order to help him progress through the game faster. The boy obtained the mother’s credit card information when she wanted to purchase some e-books on her tablet, but didn’t know how to download them herself. After securing her payment info, the boy had a field day purchasing virtual currency to use in the game.
Game of War: Not worth $46,700.
According to De Redactie, it took “a long time” before anyone noticed that any payments had been made, with the boy claiming that he “didn’t realize” that he was purchasing in-game “gold” for real money.
The Belgian Gambling Commission has stated that “we need stricter rules,” saying that it is too easy for incidents such as these to occur.
Apple has been known in the past to at least partially refund users who have unwittingly spent an extortionate amount on apps on games, though the company has yet to release a statement regarding whether or not it will refund the boy’s mother in this instance. For her sake, we hope so.
We can only imagine how long this kid will be grounded for.
Photo: Getty Images
