Saudi Press

Saudi Arabia and the world
Saturday, Jul 27, 2024

Roblox: Ten-year-old spent £2,500 of mum's money without her knowing

Roblox: Ten-year-old spent £2,500 of mum's money without her knowing

A 10-year-old girl spent more than £2,500 on the gaming site Roblox after changing the password on her family's iPad tablet without her mum realising.

Georgina Munday, from Denbighshire is now warning parents to "be vigilant".

Tesco Bank initially refused a refund but reconsidered and apologised after BBC Radio Four consumer affairs show, You and Yours took up the case.

Roblox says it has "a robust policy" from unauthorised payments and Apple says pre-purchase alerts can be set up.

Roblox allows users to create their own games but also offers in app purchases to upgrade the user's avatar with things like clothes or accessories and offers some pay to play games.

Georgina Munday, 44, who lives in Dyserth, said her daughter, Primrose, who has autism, had been playing on her tablet for longer recently, because she is currently off school after struggling in mainstream education.

She initially thought someone had hacked Primrose's account but it soon became clear that the 10-year-old had managed to change the password to allow payments.

"We'd just seen hundreds of transactions, these payment confirmations, so then the panic set in - oh my gosh, whose card is this on?"

Primrose had managed to spend more than £2,500 on the site but most were small transactions of around £20.

For about a week, Georgina, who is a nurse, was in back and forth contact with Apple and her bank, Tesco Bank, trying to secure a refund but both refused - she said it was "a horrendous time".

"It was a really stressful time. I am not working at the minute, I am looking after my daughter. The last few months have been quite stressful, so maybe we have had our eye off the ball. I just thought I would have to pay it off in instalments over the next few years.

"I rang up Tesco Bank and they said, because it was my daughter, they couldn't do anything about it. So I tried Apple again - they just read me their terms and conditions. So that's when I contacted the BBC, You and Yours, consumer programme."

Within a day, Georgina said that Tesco Bank contacted her to say they would refund the full amount.

"I cried - it was just a relief, a weight off my shoulders."

Apple points out there are ways that accounts can be set up to alert a parent before a child wants to make a purchase.

It added that parents and guardians should not disclose passwords or enable FaceID and TouchID for their children and Ask to Buy should be set up so purchases need approval before going through.

Screen time being turned on will also enable parents to stop in-app purchases, it added.

Roblox players build the games, using the developer tools which the platform provides


Tesco Bank said: "We've carried out a further review of this case and have now agreed with Ms Munday that we'll refund her the full amount.

"We apologise to Ms Munday that this wasn't arranged for her when she first contacted us, and we've therefore also organised an additional payment to her as a gesture of goodwill."

Georgina said she does not feel happy to let her daughter play the game anymore.

"She knew what she was doing, she changed the password but I don't think she understood the enormity of it."

Georgina said parents need to "be vigilant" and know what their children are playing.

"Children are one step ahead of parents these days. We thought this Roblox game was quite innocent, it looks very basic. It's a whole world out there on this Roblox that we knew nothing about."

Roblox said: "Roblox has a robust policy for processing refund requests where there may have been unauthorised payments from a person's account.

"This process is detailed in our help centre here.

"Parents also have access to a suite of Parental Controls that can be used to determine how much their children can spend, and set spend notifications to increase visibility over their children's spending on Roblox."

Newsletter

Related Articles

Saudi Press
0:00
0:00
Close
Heatwave in Morocco Claims 21 Lives in Beni Mellal
Israel Warns France of Iranian Threats at Paris Olympics
Hamas and Fatah Sign Unity Pact Amid Gaza Conflict
Miracle Baby Born After Gaza Airstrike
Netanyahu Urges Unity Between US and Israel in Congress Speech
Netanyahu Criticizes Anti-Israel Protesters in US
World's Hottest Day Recorded on July 21
Sri Lanka Apologizes for Forced Cremation of Muslim Covid Victims
President Biden Returns to White House After Testing COVID Negative
Trump Says Kamala Harris Would Be Easier Election Opponent Than Biden
4.7 Magnitude Earthquake Strikes Northwestern Turkey
Hacking Vulnerabilities: Androids vs. iPhones
Israel Conducts First Direct Air Raid on Yemen's Hodeidah Port
Joe Biden Withdraws from 2024 US Presidential Race
A Week of Turmoil: Key Moments in US Politics
Elon Musk's Companies Drop CrowdStrike After Global Windows 10 Outage
US Criticizes International Court's Opinion on Israeli Occupation
Netanyahu Denounces World Court Ruling on Israeli Occupation
Adidas Drops Bella Hadid Over Controversy
Massive Flight Cancellations Across the U.S. Due to Microsoft Outage
Russia Accuses Ukraine of Using Chemical Weapons
Ursula von der Leyen Wins Second Term as European Commission President
Japan to Allocate $3.3 Billion to Ukraine Using Frozen Russian Assets
Google and Microsoft Now Consume More Power Than Several Large Countries
Increased Security for Trump After Assassination Threat
New AI Chipset Set to Revolutionize ChatGPT
Thai-Saudi Investment Roadshow Yields 100 Partnerships
Trump Media Shares Surge Following Re-Election Bid Boost
Russia's Electronic Warfare Neutralizes Western Weapons in Ukraine
Trump Challenges Biden to Debate and Golf Match
Macron Accuses Israeli Minister of Election Interference
US Senator Highlights Weaknesses in Western Military Industry During Ukraine Conflict
George Clooney Urges Biden to Withdraw from Presidential Race
Political Shift in the UK: A Detailed Analysis of Labour's Victory and Future Prospects
Viktor Orbán's Peace Mission: A Diplomatic Controversy in the EU
UAE Court Sentences 43 to Life Imprisonment Over Terrorist Links
Spain PM Pedro Sanchez Denounces Double Standards on Gaza at NATO Summit
Biden Affirms Commitment To Presidential Race
Putin Hosts PM Modi for a Private Meeting
2024 Predicted to Be World's Hottest Year
Iran's President-Elect Masoud Pezeshkian Reiterates Support for Hezbollah
Biden Insists on Continuing Presidential Race Amid Criticism
Macron Faces New Political Challenges Despite Election Relief
US Officials Resign Over Biden's Gaza Policy
Campaigners Push for Emergency Uplift Visa for Palestinians Escaping Gaza Conflict
Netanyahu Criticizes Release of Gaza Hospital Head
UK Government and British Airways Sued Over 1990 Kuwait Hostage Incident
Afghan Women's Rights Declared Internal Issue by Taliban
UK Appeals to ICC May Delay Arrest Warrants for Israeli Leaders
ZATCA Allows Non-citizens to Participate in Auctions
×