The mother checks her account balance twice a month. Therefore, the son had 17 days to spend the money. Apparently enough time. The mother says she only realized what was going on when it was too late.
Mother would have to sue son for the bank to help
This is what the mother has now done: The mother called her bank, which has now frozen all accounts and blocked the credit card. However, as long as the mother does not file a lawsuit against her son, the bank cannot help because it is considered “friendly fraud” or “chargeback fraud.” This is what it’s called when one buys something online and then requests the money back from the bank.
The mother has contacted Twitch and Amazon but received no response. According to Dotesports, she has also reached out to the streamers but only received replies from Benkert and Leonard.
She hopes that Twitch can help her now. Because her son’s account is already blocked and she can no longer track where money has flowed.
Ultimately, the mother takes the blame but is willing to live with the consequences:
I worked too much and didn’t pay attention to what my son was doing online. He knows a lot more about the internet now than I do. My focus now is on figuring out why he did this so that it is the only huge mistake he makes in his life.
Story has a good ending – Mother gets most of the money back
Update 8.8. After nearly three weeks, the story has indeed had a good ending. The mother tells the site dotesports that she has almost received all of her money back. She contacted the payment service Xsolla via their online chat, a partner of Twitch. They refunded her the money on the condition that the account is permanently blocked.
While she was still missing a few hundred dollars, she was incredibly glad that the nightmare has now come to an end. She will not pursue the small difference anymore. She is very relieved.
The mother expresses disappointment that she was not heard by Twitch and Amazon. She felt like she had hit a wall everywhere.
The tip to try it through Xsolla came from another parent on reddit. This person had gone through something very similar.
The online shooter Fortnite is considered a magnet for boys. They often get into conflicts with their mothers over the game or need their help. In 2018, a 14-year-old boy was even sued by Epic for allegedly cheating. His mother defended him back then:
Fortnite: Mother defends 14-year-old cheater – But he’s in for trouble
Ultimately, the mother takes the blame but is willing to live with the consequences:
I worked too much and didn’t pay attention to what my son was doing online. He knows a lot more about the internet now than I do. My focus now is on figuring out why he did this so that it is the only huge mistake he makes in his life.
Story has a good ending – Mother gets most of the money back
Update 8.8. After nearly three weeks, the story has indeed had a good ending. The mother tells the site dotesports that she has almost received all of her money back. She contacted the payment service Xsolla via their online chat, a partner of Twitch. They refunded her the money on the condition that the account is permanently blocked.
While she was still missing a few hundred dollars, she was incredibly glad that the nightmare has now come to an end. She will not pursue the small difference anymore. She is very relieved.
The mother expresses disappointment that she was not heard by Twitch and Amazon. She felt like she had hit a wall everywhere.
The tip to try it through Xsolla came from another parent on reddit. This person had gone through something very similar.
The online shooter Fortnite is considered a magnet for boys. They often get into conflicts with their mothers over the game or need their help. In 2018, a 14-year-old boy was even sued by Epic for allegedly cheating. His mother defended him back then:
Fortnite: Mother defends 14-year-old cheater – But he’s in for trouble
The mother checks her account balance twice a month. Therefore, the son had 17 days to spend the money. Apparently enough time. The mother says she only realized what was going on when it was too late.
Mother would have to sue son for the bank to help
This is what the mother has now done: The mother called her bank, which has now frozen all accounts and blocked the credit card. However, as long as the mother does not file a lawsuit against her son, the bank cannot help because it is considered “friendly fraud” or “chargeback fraud.” This is what it’s called when one buys something online and then requests the money back from the bank.
The mother has contacted Twitch and Amazon but received no response. According to Dotesports, she has also reached out to the streamers but only received replies from Benkert and Leonard.
She hopes that Twitch can help her now. Because her son’s account is already blocked and she can no longer track where money has flowed.
Ultimately, the mother takes the blame but is willing to live with the consequences:
I worked too much and didn’t pay attention to what my son was doing online. He knows a lot more about the internet now than I do. My focus now is on figuring out why he did this so that it is the only huge mistake he makes in his life.
Story has a good ending – Mother gets most of the money back
Update 8.8. After nearly three weeks, the story has indeed had a good ending. The mother tells the site dotesports that she has almost received all of her money back. She contacted the payment service Xsolla via their online chat, a partner of Twitch. They refunded her the money on the condition that the account is permanently blocked.
While she was still missing a few hundred dollars, she was incredibly glad that the nightmare has now come to an end. She will not pursue the small difference anymore. She is very relieved.
The mother expresses disappointment that she was not heard by Twitch and Amazon. She felt like she had hit a wall everywhere.
The tip to try it through Xsolla came from another parent on reddit. This person had gone through something very similar.
The online shooter Fortnite is considered a magnet for boys. They often get into conflicts with their mothers over the game or need their help. In 2018, a 14-year-old boy was even sued by Epic for allegedly cheating. His mother defended him back then:
Fortnite: Mother defends 14-year-old cheater – But he’s in for trouble
A woman tells that her son donated around €17,500 to Twitch streamers like Tfue (Fortnite) or professional athletes within 17 days. They probably don’t need the money, but it’s gone now. We reveal the details of the story and how it ended weeks later.
The story was published on July 20, 2020, on MeinMMO. On August 8, we added a passage to the article about how the story ended.
This is what the mother says: A desperate-looking mother reported on reddit that her underage son spent nearly $20,000 on subscriptions and donations through Twitch using a credit card. He had drained her bank account. That amounts to about €17,500. It was years of savings gone in just 17 days.
The mother showed the bank statements to the US site Dotesports and said in a conversation there:
When I saw my bank statement and that my savings were almost gone, my lips began to tingle. I had to lower my head so I wouldn’t pass out. I cried at first. I couldn’t believe he did this.
Reddit user terrikgm
The ironic and bitter part is that the $20,000 missing from the mother went to streamers who are quite successful and for whom these donations probably make very little difference.
The mother mentions several names in her conversation with Dotesports. The money went to streamers like:
- Tfue: he is number 1 on Twitch thanks to Fortnite and definitely generates huge income there, at least enough to buy a keyboard for $3,500
- EwokTTV: a deaf girl who also streams Fortnite successfully
- Kurt Benkert: the quarterback of the Atlanta Falcons football team – he has a 2-year contract worth $1,080,000
- Meyers Patrick Leonard: a basketball player of the Miami Heat. The center has a 4-year contract worth 41 million US dollars
The two athletes are also seen on Twitch during the COVID-19 break. They play Fortnite and Call of Duty there. In the USA, contracts of professional athletes are public, they have a transparent contract policy due to the salary cap.
Credit card was meant for school meals, not for Twitch
This is how it happened: The mother says her son got a credit card to buy food at school. But he started transferring money from his mother’s account to his credit card and then paying for the transactions through online banking. The mother believes her son might have seen her password when she transferred him a bit of money for completed chores, or maybe she didn’t log out properly.
When she confronted her son with the act, he was “in shock”. He knew he had spent a lot but not that much.
The tip to try it through Xsolla came from another parent on reddit. This person had gone through something very similar.
The online shooter Fortnite is considered a magnet for boys. They often get into conflicts with their mothers over the game or need their help. In 2018, a 14-year-old boy was even sued by Epic for allegedly cheating. His mother defended him back then:
Fortnite: Mother defends 14-year-old cheater – But he’s in for trouble
Ultimately, the mother takes the blame but is willing to live with the consequences:
I worked too much and didn’t pay attention to what my son was doing online. He knows a lot more about the internet now than I do. My focus now is on figuring out why he did this so that it is the only huge mistake he makes in his life.
Story has a good ending – Mother gets most of the money back
Update 8.8. After nearly three weeks, the story has indeed had a good ending. The mother tells the site dotesports that she has almost received all of her money back. She contacted the payment service Xsolla via their online chat, a partner of Twitch. They refunded her the money on the condition that the account is permanently blocked.
While she was still missing a few hundred dollars, she was incredibly glad that the nightmare has now come to an end. She will not pursue the small difference anymore. She is very relieved.
The mother expresses disappointment that she was not heard by Twitch and Amazon. She felt like she had hit a wall everywhere.
The tip to try it through Xsolla came from another parent on reddit. This person had gone through something very similar.
The online shooter Fortnite is considered a magnet for boys. They often get into conflicts with their mothers over the game or need their help. In 2018, a 14-year-old boy was even sued by Epic for allegedly cheating. His mother defended him back then:
Fortnite: Mother defends 14-year-old cheater – But he’s in for trouble
The mother checks her account balance twice a month. Therefore, the son had 17 days to spend the money. Apparently enough time. The mother says she only realized what was going on when it was too late.
Mother would have to sue son for the bank to help
This is what the mother has now done: The mother called her bank, which has now frozen all accounts and blocked the credit card. However, as long as the mother does not file a lawsuit against her son, the bank cannot help because it is considered “friendly fraud” or “chargeback fraud.” This is what it’s called when one buys something online and then requests the money back from the bank.
The mother has contacted Twitch and Amazon but received no response. According to Dotesports, she has also reached out to the streamers but only received replies from Benkert and Leonard.
She hopes that Twitch can help her now. Because her son’s account is already blocked and she can no longer track where money has flowed.
Ultimately, the mother takes the blame but is willing to live with the consequences:
I worked too much and didn’t pay attention to what my son was doing online. He knows a lot more about the internet now than I do. My focus now is on figuring out why he did this so that it is the only huge mistake he makes in his life.
Story has a good ending – Mother gets most of the money back
Update 8.8. After nearly three weeks, the story has indeed had a good ending. The mother tells the site dotesports that she has almost received all of her money back. She contacted the payment service Xsolla via their online chat, a partner of Twitch. They refunded her the money on the condition that the account is permanently blocked.
While she was still missing a few hundred dollars, she was incredibly glad that the nightmare has now come to an end. She will not pursue the small difference anymore. She is very relieved.
The mother expresses disappointment that she was not heard by Twitch and Amazon. She felt like she had hit a wall everywhere.
The tip to try it through Xsolla came from another parent on reddit. This person had gone through something very similar.
The online shooter Fortnite is considered a magnet for boys. They often get into conflicts with their mothers over the game or need their help. In 2018, a 14-year-old boy was even sued by Epic for allegedly cheating. His mother defended him back then:
Fortnite: Mother defends 14-year-old cheater – But he’s in for trouble
