Children gone wild on iPad
The entire family can instantly become hooked on tablets. Picture: Matthews Baloyi The entire family can instantly become hooked on tablets. Picture: Matthews Baloyi
A boy of seven racked up a £4,000 bill playing an addictive video game on his father’s iPad.
Faisall Shugaa watched his father log in with his Apple ID and memorised the details.
Then he frittered away the cash on a game inspired by the 2015 hit film Jurassic World.
His father Mohamed, 32, thought Faisall knew the password for his iPad but not his Apple ID, which is needed to make purchases online.
Mr Shugaa only realised his son had been emptying his bank account when his card was declined days before Christmas.
When he called his bank, he was put through to the fraud squad, who told him 60 payments had been made to iTunes from December 13 to December 18, totalling £3,911. Mr Shugaa, of Crawley, West Sussex, later found Faisall made dozens of payments to fund new dinosaur characters on Jurassic World.
As he spent Dino Bucks, the currency used in the game, Faisall was unaware he was delving into his father’s account which is linked to iTunes.
Although free to download from the App Store, additional features on the game cost up to £18.99 each.
Mr Shugaa’s statement showed dozens of transactions in just a day of £66.97, £58.98 and £39.99.
Players can collect more than 50 species of dinosaur in the game described by reviewers as ‘highly addictive’ and ‘brilliant’.
Mr Shugaa, who owns a carpet company, said Apple should have realised that he was a ‘grown man’ who would not have spent so much on a ‘daft’ computer game. ‘I was so mad,’ he added. ‘I’m 32, why would Apple think I would be spending thousands on buying dinosaurs and upgrading a game?
‘Why didn’t they email me to check I knew these payments were being made? How much longer would it have gone on?’
Mr Shugaa said it should have been obvious from his record that he was not gaming online.
The father-of-two told Mail Online: ‘My son was just playing a game. He didn’t know he was spending money.’
He called Apple and said the company has agreed to a refund within ten working days.
A statement on Apple’s website reads: ‘All iOS devices have built-in controls that give parents the ability to restrict access to content. Parental controls also give parents the option to turn off functionality, such as purchasing from iTunes.’
© Daily Mail