OMFG just found out DS has spent £1700 on ipod game!!!

[splodge2001]

It's all in the title really. Still shaking, It's been going on since June> I hadn't noticed because the spending was masked by some unusual purchases over the last few months. Am livid! I've deleted 'Clash of Clans' banned the Ipod, grounded him, asked him to think of ways he can pay us back (he won't be able to). What the hell do I do? Can I get my money back. Do I report it as fraud? After all, I didn't allow it to happen. Help!

[stickysausages]

Can you check junk or recycle bins for deleted emails?

[picnicbasketcase]

Wow, OP, how dreadful. That is a huge amount to get up to before he was found out. I hope you get some luck with a refund from Apple.

[SynchroniseYourDogmas]

Check your spam folder in case the emails went in there.

[SilverApples]

It is sad and worrying that he's done all this intentionally and with considerable planning. That he felt no guilt or concern that he was spending large amounts of someone else's money.
He is untrustworthy, and dishonest and that's tough to deal with in a family.

[EirikurNoromaour]

Have you checked your iCloud email inbox? Did you set up a gmail or me.com email just for iTunes that you don't check?

[Strumpetron]

OP what the fuck?

[EirikurNoromaour]

Sorry but it is absurd that you haven't checked your account statements properly since June. If you did this would have been picked up months ago.

[lborolass]

I don't have any apple devices so don't know what screens you need to go through to make a purchase but I do have a credit card and find it a bit difficult to see how you could have missed the transactions for so long. That amount of money must have been lots of different transactions which would at the very least mean your bills would have looked very different to normal.

I think you're going to need a really good answer to that question when you contact apple if you want them on your side.

[GwendolineMaryLacey]

I agree with optimusic and have a bit less sympathy every time I read one of these threads. It's not rocket science to check your settings when you hand these things over to your kids. It's not rocket science to make sure your password is not guessable and in app purchases are off. If you cannot do things that your kids can do then you shouldn't be in charge of these things and you certainly shouldn't have a credit card linked to them. How much longer do you think apple is going to refund these 'mistakes'? It's been publicised enough now for people to know they need to be proactive about this.

[splodge2001]

God knows what happened to the emails. The truth is I thought I had it covered with the in-app purchase pin. It's an interesting moral quandary isn't it?

If I put a delicious cream cake in front of someone with a cream cake weakness am I complicit in a crime if they steal it?

Is Apple guilty of exploiting a child's natural vulnerability?

Am I an idiot - optimusic thinks so - ?

[AndIFeedEmGunpowder]

Actually I agree with PPs that the extent in app purchases are promoted and how easy it is to buy them is immoral. I have almost spent real money several times and only realised at the last minute and I am a grown up.

These games can be quite addictive and often target children. You are inveigled into buying bundles of 'gems' or 'coins' to spend improving your game which distance you from the reality that you are spending real cash. It isn't transparent. I can definitely see how it might feel like Monopoly money.

[TSSDNCOP]

Frankly OP I had a lot of sympathy until your outburst to Optimistic. She might have been blunt, but she's right and I think you must know that.

Other posters have had this problem, and with what I imagine is a mahoosive amount of grovelling Apple have refunded.

I think you do need to be thinking about how you're going to approach that, because losing your rag won't help you.

What are you going to do about DS?

[SilverApples]

It has to be someone else's fault then, OP?
Preferably not yours, or your son's?
He's 11 and a skilled user of IT, not 5.

[IAlwaysThought]

OP. If your son has access to your Apple ID or restrictions pin then he has free region to look at whatever he likes on the Internet, including porn unless he can only access the internet via 'controlled' networks?

[Floggingmolly]

Why the hell should the money be refunded? How would Apple know your 11 year old was cheeky enough to guess your PIN number and you didn't notice until he'd clocked up £1700?

[damnitchloe]

So sorry for you OP, what a horrible discovery. I hope you have some joy with Apple. For what it's worth, I agree with Nerfmother that it's immoral to sell £1,700 in an app. No one would ever buy an app for even 10% of that. I hope Apple give you at least some of your money back.
I also sympathise with not looking in detail at credit card statements every month. It's easily done, especially when you know it won't be pretty. Hope you have some happy news.

[IamInvisible]

I'm getting quite sick of people blaming Apple for this sort of thing happening.

If anyone is to take the blame it is the person who gave the child the product without ensuring all the settings were as such that they couldn't make in app purchases.

However, this has been going on for 5 months. Emails are missing. I would suggest someone in this case had a fair idea of what they were doing, unfortunately.

[Repeatedlydoingthetwist]

But would the cream cake appear on your bank statement OP?! I genuinely do feel sorry for you but I really think you do have to take some responsibility.

[Ecuador]

I think that posters thinking he knew exactly what he was doing are wrong. An 11 year old would not understand how much money £1700 was especially if it was spread in small amounts over several months.

I was in exactly the same situation a year or so ago with same aged child, I had changed my email address and not updated it so also didn't get any emails whatsoever alerting me to any purchases. Could this be the case with you OP?

I did notice the minute Apple started charging my bank account though and rang both them and the bank immediately. Apple did refund it and my son was absolutely beside himself with remorse - I honestly believe he got carried away and really didn't 'twig' that it was real money he was spending.

I hate the way that you have to opt out of these purchases rather than having to opt in.

Is your son remorseful OP? Hope you get it sorted, I do remember what an awful feeling it was realising what had happened.

[DaveGahanAndADeckchair]

And HOW DID YOU NOT NOTICE 5 MONTH'S OF ITEMIZED BILLING?

[splodge2001]

It's interesting that there is a baying crowd always after someone's blood on mumsnet! It's cool, that's democracy! But haven't things shifted somewhat with the availability of things that are dangerous? Porn, f*ing gems?

Is Apple getting away with what the tobacco companies were getting away with in the 1950s and 60s? I believe in individual responsibility but Apple cunningly circumvents responsibility by having a default factory setting which allows inapp purchases and making you give credit card details to have an I-tunes account.

[Strumpetron]

11 year olds must be very naive then in this day and age

I knew damn well what I was doing whn I was spending £2.50 a week on picture messages on my Nokia when I was 11 - yes it wasn't that long ago!

God remember those crappy picture messages.

[IAlwaysThought]

The restriction pin is 4 digits long so you have a 1 in 9999 chance of guessing it right each time you guess. It only takes 10 incorrect guesses before you are prevented from trying again for another hour.

OP do you know what version of IOS your sons IPod was using?

[Strumpetron]

Oh op stop it, that comparison is ridiculous. Apple have made announcement after announcement, have help pages specifically set up for people to prevent this from happening and give refunds! Stop trying to shift the blame. They are doing nothing wrong.

[Repeatedlydoingthetwist]

I have an iTunes account and I have removed my credit card details. You don't need to have card details stored OP. Would you be ok with a baying mob if we were baying at Apple?