Teenager Expends Her Family’s $64,000 Life Savings On Smartphone Games Through In-App Purchases, Leaving Them Almost Penniless

There has been a multitude of incidents where teenagers have erroneously spent thousands on smartphone games using in-app purchases and without any adult supervision. With mobile gaming on the rise, it provides underage individuals an easy gateway to experience long entertainment sessions, but those can also have devastating effects on the family. One such tale involved a teenager who spent her family’s $64,000 life savings on gaming apps, leaving her parents with close to nothing.
Funds were also distributed to the teenager’s classmates so they could join in on the smartphone gaming sessions
Gong Yiwang was the mother of the 13-year-old Chinese teenager that drained her bank account, as reported by Elephant News. In late May, the mother found out about her ‘high rolling’ lifestyle after she had received a call from the teenager’s teacher, informing the parent that the child was ‘addicted’ to pay-to-play games. So how did the teenager manage to spend that $64,000 amount without the mother’s knowledge?
It was not a difficult process, as she got a hold of the mother’s debit card and linked it to her smartphone, but surprisingly, she was unaware of where the money was coming from or how much she was spending daily. When her classmates noticed her carefree attitude when playing those mobile games, she succumbed to peer pressure when her friends asked her for funds to use on their own handset.
With the fear of being scolded by her parents, the daughter refrained from telling her teachers that her classmates were pestering her for funds, so she gave in. The $64,000 spending spree came in three stages of $16,800, $30,000, and $17,200. In the final stage, the teenager reportedly gave money to at least 10 classmates, bringing her amount to the aforementioned figure. To no one’s surprise, she later deleted the chat and transaction records to prevent her parents from discovering her deeds, but it was all in vain.
The teenager’s mother is now left with 7 cents to her name and is making every effort to recover the $64,000 spent by the careless daughter. At this time, the payment platforms have yet to reverse those transactions, but after careful investigation, these companies may comply. As for the teenager, her smartphone privileges will likely be rescinded, and she will be under close supervision by her parents.
Written by Omar Sohail