Next time you stop by to read the updates on your child’s Facebook profile (if you even have access)* check on their farm. No seriously, check it. If it looks a little too bountiful in FarmVille, go through your credit card bill next.
*(Ed. note: if they even have a Facebook profile. Seriously. Shouldn’t they be old enough to drive before they can hang out on Facebook?)
Because how quickly would your head explode if you discovered your twelve-year old child racked up 1,400 dollars worth of ‘products’ playing FarmVille on Facebook? Woah, that’s fast.
And how quickly would it re-explode once you discovered the only way the bank will toss out the charges is if you have your child charged by the police? Wow. Good thing we can’t regenerate.
This happened to a British woman recently (not the head exploding but the credit card surprise). Her 12 year old son stole her HSBC credit card information and purchased £900 of Farmville farm stuff in one month. Wow. That must be a huge farm. Since the mother didn’t want her son to have a criminal record of any kind, she is stuck with the charges. Ouch.
Despite being on the hook for the charges, the boy’s mother isn’t blaming Facebook, HSBC, or Zynga the creators of Farmville for what happened; her son is responsible for the purchases (despite the insanity of Zynga refusing any refund of the unused ‘products’ purchased because the boy’s Facebook profile has obviously been shut down — probably until he is thirty). But the mother does believe that “they need to shoulder some responsibility in this business and put systems in place to stop this happening again. The fact that he was using a card in a different name should bring up some sort of security and the online secure payment filter seems to be bypassed for Facebook payments.”
This woman is much calmer and level headed than I would be in this situation. I’d be still trying to lift my jaw up off the ground after discovering the charges.
So what would you do in the same situation? If you have children this age, do you think they could find themselves in the same situation where online spending got out of control? FarmVille isn’t like porn, radars may not go off if you see a pre-teen playing this online, so could this slip under the more stringent parental radars only to be discovered upon the opening of next month’s bill? Bad Moms want to know (you know, so I can prepare myself for the pre-teen years that seem to be coming faster and faster down the barrel of parenthood.)
About katie
I have 3 teenagers and 2 of the 3 have facebook profiles. They also know that stealing is wrong. I know this because I’ve taught them. They know that pissing away money for online games is worthless. I know this because I’ve taught them. They also know that there is a paddle hanging on the kitchen wall if those lessons need to be reinforced. It’s not Zynga’s (or anyone else’s responsibility) to teach someone’s child what their parents should have already done. Ridiculous.
It was a relief to read that the mother in this case didn’t blame the game either, she said her son took full responsibility. It was refreshing to read that the parent wasn’t trying to blame someone else for something she has tried to instill in her child. Word up.
BTW Ida, I’m scared of your paddle on the kitchen wall ;)
.-= katie | motherbumper´s last blog ..The Big Tease =-.
I’m glad that she didn’t blame Facebook or the game makers, but I get a little irritated when people say things like “But the mother does believe that “they need to shoulder some responsibility in this business and put systems in place to stop this happening again.” I believe that people spend far too much time putting preventive measures into place that a little time, attention, and loving discipline would handle as a natural course.
re: my paddle … it’s kind of dusty these days. It never got a whole lot of use, but when the kiddos set the bedroom carpet on fire or… were found dancing on the yellow line in the middle of our street with their friends, or… let’s just say that I can understand all those times my granny found the inner strength to switch my tush when I was a kid.
.-= Ida Davidson´s last blog ..Are you “just”ifying your future away? =-.
I don’t have kids (not yet anyway) but I am a firm believer that if you have kids, then you supervise their activities (within reason)
Facebook has an age restricition of 13 years or above, so firstly this young boy shouldn’t have had an acccount. However, I appreciate that some kids are very mature for their age (I was one of them) and in some cases parents trust their kids to have a facebook, myspace accounts.
What surprises me is that this woman didn’t realise what her kid was up to until her credit card bill came in! Surely she supervises her 12 year old on the internet? Cause surely if at any point she had been supervising him, she’d have realised he was using her credit card to purchase things! Not to mention that at the age of 12 he should have know stealing is wrong.
Again, maybe i’m too hasty to judge, and also people have different ways to parent their kids.
Personally (my husband and I have already has this conversation) when I have kids, if they want to use the computer they will be supervised at all times.
On a similar topic, my cousin got married a week ago, and on one of her photos, someone commented “is she pregnant”. (she’s not) several people including myself responded saying things such as “thats a very rude comment to make” and it turned out that this person was in fact 8 years old. 8 years old. when i pointed out that facebook had an age restriction, the said 8 year olds mother then sent me a threatening message! according to her she supervisers her kid on the internet. i know kids sometimes come out with stuff like that, and lets face it you have no control as to what comes out of their mouth, once its out, its out! but honestly, who allows their kid to write that on someones wedding photo, especially when they know full well that person isn’t pregnant, just a little chubby. can’t be supervising too well…
some people just shouldnt be allowed to have kids. as much as I shouldn’t judge, y’all know i’m right!
.-= Becca_Masters´s last blog ..crazy is as crazy does? =-.
I also have 3 kids, my eldest is the one who’s using Facebook, he is 10, and before I allow him to play with farmVille or any social games we have conditions, that is, not to use or buy anything or ask some cash from the game. We parents, have the responsibility in every actions made by our children, since they are still minor, we have to guide or monitor them whatever they do in front of the computer. Since the damage has done already this will serve as a lesson to all of us parents. Thank you for sharing this information. You may want to visit this site: http://www.farmvillesecretsandtricks.info