How many parents go out of their way to make sure their kids don’t spend ridiculous amounts of money on in-app purchases? Some don’t pay attention, but Lance Perkins definitely will from now on. The Pembroke, Ontario father learned his son spent $8,206.43 on microtransactions in a FIFA game on December 23, 2015. Which one wasn’t revealed, but the father was none too happy.
Perkins’ son was given a credit card for emergencies, but it was used to make purchases in-game. The father said no more Xbox consoles at all in the home, but the damage was done. So, Perkins went to Microsoft. Once Microsoft was told Perkins’ son was only 17, a minor, the company looked into the FIFA purchases. It then issued the father a refund.
The only suspect thing in this story is that Perkins claims his son thought there was a one-time fee when making these purchases in FIFA and didn’t realize he was racking up an over $8,000 debt. I find this hard to believe, considering how games make you confirm purchases by always asking, “Hey, you’re going to spend real money on this. Do you really want to do this?” A 17-year-old would know better, right?