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Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Spending Kids Online (not as a currency)

Dear Cybersorter,
I have just received my credit card bill and discovered my pre-teenage son has racked up €300 worth of debt by playing some online game.
Apparently you get “free” tokens to play the game but if you want to speed up the process, you can buy tokens with real money. The name on the credit card bill looks like some zappy internet name but is this possible?
AM

Dear AM
It is perfectly possible. There was a similar case three months ago where a boy in the UK racked up over £900 (€1,087) of credit card debt for his mum through buying game tokens.
This is a good opportunity to explain to your son:
1) Stealing mum’s credit card will land you with dish cleaning duty for two years – minimum (be grateful you’re not going to Borstal)
2) Borrowed money always has to be paid back – how does he propose reimbursing you €300?
3) It is incredibly easy to spend money, especially via credit card, online.
This is also a wake-up call to monitor your child’s internet activity. What and who else is he connecting to? Get online with your son and check out webwise.ie, a site that gives regularly updated information about children’s internet safety.
You can be cheered, though, by the knowledge that your son is a bit clever, but not devious enough for a true life of crime.

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