A 13-year-old girl in China has spent €60,000 on mobile games within four months. Her parents only became aware when a teacher called and pointed out that their daughter might be addicted to mobile games. She is constantly on her phone.
How could the girl spend so much money? As reported by a local Chinese television station, the girl had found her mother’s debit card and linked it to her smartphone.
She said she knew her mother’s password – the mother had told the teenager in case she needed money when her parents were not around.
How did this come out? A teacher from the school in Henan that the girl attends called the mother and told her she suspected that the 13-year-old might be addicted to mobile games, as she spends a lot of time on her phone at school.
The mother then checked her own account: There were only 0.5 Yuan left, about 6 Euro cents.
What did she spend so much money on? The father confronted the girl about the missing money. The girl admitted she had:
- Spent $15,900 buying mobile games
- Spent $27,500 on in-game purchases in mobile games
- Additionally, she had given several thousand dollars to 10 classmates so they could buy games
In total, she had spent $60,000.
The girl says:
When they asked me to pay for their games, I did, even though I hesitated at first. But if I hadn’t given them the money, then they would have annoyed me all day. I was afraid that if I told my teacher, she would tell my parents and they would be angry with me.
The girl says she doesn’t know much about money or where it comes from, but she apparently knew how to cover her tracks. She was able to delete the bills and other evidence of her purchases, thus keeping it a secret from her parents.
What games did she play? In the video report about the case, father, mother, and child are interviewed. The bills are visible and briefly a game is also shown.
It could be referring to the extremely popular “Honor of Kings” in China: This is an unofficial mobile version of League of Legends developed by Tencent, after Riot Games resisted bringing LoL to mobile.
What happens next? As reported by South China Morning Post, the mother has since tried to reclaim the money from various payment companies, but it is said she has been unsuccessful in getting the money back in full.
According to South China Morning Post, many people on social media have little understanding of the girl. They point out that she must have known she was doing something wrong when she deleted the evidence of her actions. Others blame the parents.
In China, there are actually clear rules intended to prevent teenagers from spending so much time on mobile games:
China now prohibits young gamers from doing 3 things – These are the new rules
The cover image is a symbolic image: Photo by Pandhuya Niking on Unsplash
