FarmVille Farm Cash // Credit: Tami B.
An article in The Guardian today is reporting that a 12-year-old boy in the UK has spent a total of $1,206 dollars in FarmVille without his parent's permission. His mother (who wished to stay anonymous) claims that he used $383 of his own dollars that he had in a savings account, before taking her credit card and spending another $800+ dollars in FarmVille.
Zynga is not being cooperative and her refusing to refund any of the woman's money because her son lives in her house with her. The credit card company HSBC will also not reverse the charges unless the 12-year-old is reported as fraudulent and the mother reports her son to the police. His Facebook account has been closed.
In FarmVille, many objects can be purchased with real life cash, including decorative items and animals, and items that allow players to advance faster such as fuel or farm hands. It would be quite easy for someone to spend large amounts of money in FarmVille because there are many things only available for Farm Cash, which requires real money in order to obtain at any large quantity.
There are several things that could have been done in this case that would have prevented the purchases from being made. The first is that this 12-year-old boy could be monitored while spending time online playing games to ensure that he is not getting into trouble. Facebook could also have put restrictions that would prevent credit cards from being used if they are not in the Facebook account holder's name.
What do you think? Does the fault lie with this boy's parents, with Zynga, Facebook, or the credit card company?
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Comments
I think there is fault with the mom for not monitoring her son's facebook activity more closely, but also with Facebook and Zynga since (I believe) the min. age for a teen to have an acct. is 13. Zynga and facebook should have precautions in place to prevent underage users from using credit cards to purchase items as well
WOW! I can't even imagine how I would react to this. That boy must have had A LOT of time to himself to rack up that kind of bill. I really don't think Zynga is to blame - they are just out to make money.
The person at fault here is clear. The boy knew what he was doing when he downloaded the app to his Facebook account, and apparently, he needed to read the terms and conditions before adding the application.
I really believe that the child should have been monitored by his parents. This was a very insightful article. I subscribed to your feed. Also, I am a new examiner. The King's College Arts Examiner. Thank you. If you want to add me to facebook, just look up 'Matthew Philistine.'
Wow, this is incredible. But, it was probably just a matter of time before a story like this surfaced. I can't imagine HSBC or Zynga working with the mother since he opened his Facebook account under fraudulent pretenses. Great article. Posted to my FB account for all my "farming" friends to see!
This is hilarious. I'm sorry but I can't help but laugh.
This game is so addicting, I am not surprised. However, it's not really Zynga's fault. Kids need more monitoring while on the computer.
it took her that long to realize he was spending money? Theres this new thing called online banking, it shows you all charges made to your card. He also should not have had access to that card. Way to go mom.. 12-year-old-boy will be doing alot to earn his moms money back, as theres no way HSBC or Zynga should have to refund it.
They don't want to reimburse mother for charges because the child lives in the home? Where else would the child live at the age of 12. They really should refund mother's money. Then mother should monitor the child's computer activity. These games can be addicting and it's hard for some adults to stop playing, so I know it's harder for kids.
What a crazy story. I RT your Twitter post.
When selling to minors, you have additional moral and in many jurisdictions also legal obligations. Some services like Habbo actually limit the amount of money a kid can spend on them in a week. Allowing a minor spend hundreds of dollars on your virtual goods in an instant is short sighted, as it's practically guaranteed to lead to this kind of bad publicity (for the whole industry, I might add).
(I would have linked to my related essay, but links don't seem to be allowed. If you're interested, search for
"The ethics of social games and virtual goods: A bigger picture"
at Virtual Economy Research Network)
Since the kid was too young to be allowed on facebook and not old enough to accept any contract with Zynga, I believe Zynga should refund the money. The mother should also report them as fraudulent charges since they are, and let his son suffer the consequences for his action. Though I doubt the police would do anything.
This just proves that farming isn't profitable.
I like how her list at the bottom for who the fault lies with doesn't include the boy who did it. Everyone always tries to take situations and pawn off blaim to someone else. Some one shoots somebody and they say it's video games' fault or the gun companies' fault or heavy metal's fault... never its the kid/man who shot the persons fault.
I think the mom should have paid closer attention to what her son was doing online, and to the fact that you're not old enough to legally have a facebook account at age 12. People do lie about it, I know. Also, whenever a large purchase is put on my cards the company calls me to see if I really spent that large amount. Just an extra precaution.
Gamble addictions are running reampid in youth today. It's going to be the sad truth in the near future. I know a 18yt old boy who spends every penny he has on gambleing, weatehr it be on line or bingo with his grandma. He even said when he gets his tax return he is going to the casino to play real poker. Scary.
Incredible...
It is societies fault. Credit is the root of the problems with the economy. Down with Credit! :)
Check with a lawyer. In many countries, transactions by underage/incompetent persons are not valid without permission from their parents. You may be able to legally reverse the transaction. I'm surprised they didn't back out at "I'm this kid's parent, and I did not give permission".
E Belive the blaim is somewhere in the midle. But to be honest you can't allways hide your credit cards when you are home, you actually just need the number nothing that is hard to get. The main factor is the ussage of a credit card that is not in the name of the account holder. I belive that paying on the internet has become too easy in the last years, bank transactions should not be that easy and security free.
Who made the idea of "credit card" anyways? Spending like having a wallet without bottom.
Well, it's good that the problem was talked in both parent's side and technology's side.
Unless the boy has cognitive issues, which is unlikely since he pulled this stunt, it seems more likely he has rearing issues. His mom failed to teach him about not taking what is not his. I have no problem with his mom now having to pay the price for neglecting her motherly duties.
PARENTS NEED TO WATCH THEIR KIDS AND STOP BEING SO EFFING LAZY!
Yeah there is the odd issue that you're suppsed to be THIRTEEN to use facebook? I think the fault however, is really a combination of the three. A limit, like some mentioned, that a kid can buy in a week or a month seems reasonable. But the kid is still definately at fault.
Well the boy shouldn't have been on facebook also shouldn't the mother have received letters/emails from the HSBC about this. She could easily have spotted this before it even got too much.
IT NOT UP TO FACEBOOK AND ZYNGA TO WATCH YOU CHILD FOR YOU.......MOMS AND DADS, SHOULD ITS YOUR KID!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It's not a bad idea to allow parent monitoring options on minor facebook accounts. Facebook already has privacy settings. What if there were minor settings that prevented kids from seeing inappropriate profiles or using credit cards? Just a suggestion ...
well, parents keep your credit cards away from children. It is our responsibility to be conscious about ourselves and our kids spending. credit card companies has no liabilities whatsoever and so does facebook.. It's up to us users to grab the bait, the hook and then sink..we are at fault for being so addicted to this games..no one else..
its the mothers fault
That is so ridiculous to have stuff on farmville for real money.. I saw that and never bothered with facebook again. About the boy.. he should have had more sense.. the mom.. may not have known he stole her card.. I think she should report him to the police for theft .. and I think she should also sue facebook.
Apparently the parents have not taught the child the value of money and they aren't monitoring the child while he's on the internet. Shame on them. However, it is too easy to spend using a credit card online and with identity theft the problem that it is, a password to allow access to a credit card purchase should be mandatory for all websites.
Personally, i think both mother and son should bear the responsibilities. Zynga is just out to make money. Its not their job to monitor anyone's children online. The mother should monitor the boy when he goes online and she shouldn't have let him have access to her credit cards. As for the boy, he's 12 years old and he knows perfectly well what he did was wrong. So shifting the blame from him will not help him. He needs to bear his part of the responsibilities and learn from the mistakes he's made.
My ten year old son was able to order $1,000 worth of Yoville cash with my credit card without my permission. My bank authorized the payment because it thought I made the purchases. After he spent all that money (which he did in two days), his account was disabled so we can not research to see exactly what he bought. I have taught my son right from wrong, and I do monitor him online which is only supposed to be on there for educational purposes. He created a facebook account without my knowledge. I am not watching him every second that he is on the Internet. I never thought to "hide" my credit card when I am home. The banks says that the charges were made correctly even though I knew nothing of them until they wrote me (new account so I had not yet set up online banking) to inquire about the charges.
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