Roblox - money lost

[Sarahr22]

Hello,
I am sat in tears. not knowing where to turn. I realised today that my 8 year old has been playing Roblox (which I signed her up to do and put all safety blocks on) but has been making in-app purchases which over the last few weeks amount to nearly £2600. She didn't realise it was real money and I consider myself at fault for not checking - with all the child safety blocks on I didn't realise this would happen. I have hardly any money in my account and am not working at present. I have tried Roblox (no way of calling them just have to fill in a form), Apple (as it was on an iPad and they refused to help) and discussed with my bank that suspicious activity should have been picked up - they refused to help and suggested reporting my child for fraud. I appreciate I should have been more vigilant but any ideas or experiences as I simply don't know where to turn. Thank you

Hello everyone

We've had a number of reports from people concerned about this thread so, as we usually do in these circs, we're putting our heads round the door with some important reminders.

Right now we can't see any evidence to indicate that the OP isn't above board – if we did, we'd remove the thread straight away. But the truth is that, sadly, we at MNHQ can't know with 100% certainty that any poster is genuine, no matter who they are or how long they have been here. As frustrating as it is, we're not able to vouch for anyone here.

So we always ask users to remember that not everyone on the internet is who they say they are – and remind folk not to give more to another poster, either financially (in cash or gifts) or emotionally (in time or care and support) than they'd be prepared to lose if things went wrong. We strongly advise against parting with any cash or giving away your personal details, and if you receive a PM which makes you uneasy - report it to us and we’ll take a look.

Sorry to hijack your thread briefly there, OP – we really hope you get it all sorted soon. In the meantime, you might find some useful information on our guide for dealing with financial difficulty

I’d start again, OP. Communicate with Apple via email and don’t mention the previous conversations you had on the phone with them because if it’s been blocked twice already they’ll automatically block on that basis.

Be factual, not emotional. Don’t mention other cases; they’re not relevant to yours.

Doesn't your husband check his business account regularly for unauthorised/fraudulent transactions etc?

With any sort of online game or betting the adult account holder IS responsible & there are normally written terms & conditions at the point of setting up.

So if an adult loans the use of their PC, mobile phone, mobile phone, iPad or TV to another adult or child. The account holder is still responsible. The terms & conditions are normally clear.

The company does not have to refund, but you can ask

Secondly, how would you or your family prove that it was your child that made the purchases ?

The responsibility is always with the adult

I have only had this issue with my son's amazon tablet and they refunded straight away, although he spent nowhere near that amount.

For roblox I have a password for purchases, my bank blocked my card last month when I had 2 purchases to roblox in succession and that was for £1.98 so I would try the bank again and make a complaint that this didn't flag suspicious activity, unless of course you usually spend on your apple platform so it was usual to your account.
I would as suggested, take this to social media - roblox, apple and the bank. This sometimes helps as its bad publicity. I'm wondering if it isn't helping that you didn't notice this over a couple of weeks.
Good luck, I hope it gets sorted.

Thank you all. I saw the post from Admin and have certainly not wanted to cause any offence or have not private messaged anyone for help emotionally or otherwise. Apologies if I have upset anyone. My family have just been left devastated emotionally and otherwise by my daughter using Roblox. I am taking full responsibility as the parent in letting her use the iPad and blame firmly rests with me no one else (not my husband and of course certainly not my daughter). I just felt at a complete loss with the situation and pretty devastated. I appreciate everyone’s help I really really do. I had seen stories in press so thought someone on here may have experienced similar issues and if nothing else hope it has highlighted the issue. Apologies again if I have upset anyone.

@Sarahr22 what is quite common is that people will post a thread like this and hope they get sent money.

Which is why MNHQ put their warning up.

It's clear to everyone here, especially with updates that the money you've lost was savings, not your bill money and that you have time to save up again so everyone can see you aren't hoping to be sent money.

You have options and have been given very good advice.

These games are free to download, which means they have to get their money somehow. Default position must always be "be suspicious" and double/triple/quadruple check that money can't be lost.

I'm afraid you've all learned a very expensive lesson. I'm so sorry. At least you caught it when you did.

I think it would help your case if you delete the app and/or ask roblox to delete her account. Because there’s an argument that the content was paid for and used, or that you’re requesting a refund for content that you’re still accessing; so it comes across as a fraudulent refund request

Something vaguely similar happened to me once and they could see that I hadn’t accessed the content

Apologies again if I have upset anyone.

You haven’t upset anyone, OP It’s a standard message Mumsnet put up on these type of threads because there are some people out there who will play a sob story to try and get money out of others.

On the ipad, Roblox says its a 12 rated app, but in the Google play store the app is 7. This is a huge discrepancy I think, I've never let my boys play it because I thought they were far too young (6+7) but I definitely won't let them now!

Maybe someone on here can message roblox /apple on twitter and link this thread?

It's the standard warning @Sarahr22 it isn't directed at you personally or anything in your post.
Mumsnet can be an odd place of extremes sometimes

Thoughts of who might help:

Do you have any legal cover through your house insurance?

Which? Also have advisors that might be able to help although you might have to subscribe.iften do a low cost trial.

Perhaps Your local CAB could help.

Radio 4 programme websites eg You and yours or money box

According to earlier posts, robox often refund. Hopefully op has emailed them and will soon get a positive response

I have to admit I was suspicious this was a "please send money" thread at first. That's become my default position when anyone follows this sort of "script"

I've lost money
I'm so upset
My children are upset too
I've got nothing
What do I do?
I'm crying so hard

You started like this but then shared updates about the money coming from savings not regular account etc.

It's not you OP it's all the others who have ever taken advantage of the good faith and generosity of Mumsnetters.

I found this from 2019.

medium.com/@cardgenerator/the-refund-policy-of-roblox-2019-26a1e07a5ea8

Thank you all and just to reiterate this is not a plea for money or private messages at all. I feel stupid that this has happened and blame myself totally. I accept I could have managed this better as a parent and I have failed miserably. I appreciate that I am looking for goodwill from
Apple or Roblox and they have no duty to refund. This was a genuine mistake and it’s just hard that they are so cut and dry on the issue. Sometimes they refund and sometimes they don’t which is a little unfair

I have messaged Consumer columnists from various newspapers and the ceo of Apple but feel i am clutching at straws and won’t get responses.

I do appreciate all your thoughts

I also found this. Which means your child sexual as prompted before making any purchases.

Oh dear.

@Browzingss

That's the only explanation I can think of as to why they aren't refunding

They’re not legally obligated to refund you though?

Maybe not legally, but with that much being spent all of a sudden, there should have been some sort of alert system?

Like a credit card flags up irregular spending, it just seems odd that it was allowed.

Good grief what a typo! Which means your child was prompted (I don't know where her other word came from. Eek)

Thanks. Roblox have said they would usually refund but can’t as it was on an iPad so I am stuck with Apple

She didn’t understand it was real money. I have never been on it (only to block it now!) but they seem to use a game currency - Rublox - so gets confusing. We had no notifications at all. We should have checked account I accept that - another failure by me!

Sounds like she's too young to be playing the game. Never mind block it. I'd take it off her.

There have been really awful hacks of it.

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/techcrunch.com/2018/07/18/roblox-responds-to-the-hack-that-allowed-a-childs-avatar-to-be-raped-in-its-game/amp/

I was going to say about some of the unsuitable content. Especially if they play unsupervised.

I suspect the reason Apple won't refund is because it is a business account not a personal account. They expect your business to take the hit or recover the money from the person responsible for letting a child access a business account, rather than them. A business should have its security in order.

If you are willing to go public with the story, Martin Lewis takes on cases like this. There is a link on the MSE website.