A teenager from India spent a huge amount of money on the mobile version of PUBG without his parents knowing. Now he has to pay for it by working.
What happened? It is no secret that PUBG Mobile is extremely popular in many countries, including India. There was an incident related to the game’s microtransactions.
Although PUBG Mobile is free to play, players can still spend money on it. And that’s exactly what a teenager from Punjab reportedly did, according to the Indian newspaper The Tribune.
The 17-year-old spent 1.6 million rupees on “cosmetics, artillery, tournament passes, and virtual ammunition,” the newspaper reported. This is equivalent to about $21,500.
How did the boy spend the money? The teenager spent most of the money over the course of a month, managing to keep the expenses secret from his parents for the time being.
The boy explained his excessive phone usage to his parents by saying he was using the smartphone for online courses to learn more during the lockdown. The parents only noticed the expenses when they received the bills at the end of the month.
To cover up the massive expenses, the boy used money from two different accounts and always made only small purchases. According to his parents, he also deleted the notification emails about purchases from their smartphones and moved money between the accounts.
After we received the bank statements and bills, I found out that he had transferred money several times from one account to another to avoid a zero balance.
He had been using his mother’s smartphone for a quite long time, and she wasn’t attentive enough to notice.
Father of the teenager
These are the consequences: According to the parents, the money spent was actually savings that the teenager’s father had set aside. They were meant to cover his medical expenses on one side and to secure the boy’s future on the other.
As a punishment for the fraud, the teenager now has to work in a scooter repair shop.
I can’t just let him sit quietly at home now and I also cannot give him a smartphone anymore, not even for learning. He is now working in a repair shop to understand how hard it is to earn money.
Father of the boy.
PUBG Mobile is extremely popular in India
The popularity of PUBG Mobile in India has caused some commotion in the past. In some parts of India, the game has even been banned as it is considered harmful for children and teenagers because it is addictive and promotes violence.
For some time, some bizarre stories about PUBG Mobile circulated in Indian media, which were supposed to emphasize the dangers of the game.
- For example, a teenager reportedly died of a heart attack due to PUBG Mobile
- Two other teenagers were hit by a train because they were distracted by PUBG Mobile.
- Another was so distracted by PUBG Mobile that he drank acid instead of water.
It is not known whether the teenager will face further consequences for playing the banned game. However, he will be kept busy with his new job in the workshop for the time being.
