Clash of Clans in app purchases 14 January 2016 at 5:19PM in Gaming MoneySaving 5 replies 1.2K views

TheMoneySpider

Almost got a nasty surprise playing this on my iPad the other day. I don't play it a lot (especially since the latest update).

I was collecting loot from my mines (if you play the game you'll understand) and one of them was just next to the Gem counter...in fact it was next to the + next to the Gem counter. This opened up another screen and in the exact same space where the + had been was a button to buy £80 worth of credits for the game. I had tapped on the same area twice (which is what you would do) and so my iPad tried to make a purchase and asked for my iTunes/App Store password.

I presume some people have their password stored so they don't have to type it every time they buy a song, am wondering if this means you can purchase in-game credits for Clash of Clans without really meaning to.

Fletch7

You can accidentally spend real money in any game with in-app purchases. There are regular stories in the news of kids running up a credit card bill of thousands because mum/dad didn't put a password on it, here's one from a couple of days ago:

http://www.bitterwallet.com/father-bans-son-from-video-games-as-he-spends-over-5000/90251

forgotmyname

No way would i store my payment details into a phone.

wilsonjack10

Certainly happens with many of those who are less careful

TheMoneySpider

Struck me as interesting that the button you click on to make the most expensive in-app purchase just happens to be on the exact pixel you tap on to get into the purchasing screen

Crazy_Jamie

TheMoneySpider wrote: »

Struck me as interesting that the button you click on to make the most expensive in-app purchase just happens to be on the exact pixel you tap on to get into the purchasing screen

It's a fairly standard tactic, though it's not necessarily always used in such a direct way. For example, New Star Soccer (which is a superb free game for anyone who likes Sensible Soccer and Football Manager, incidentally) pops up with adverts every couple of games. The adverts completely cover the screen and will last maybe thirty seconds, but after five seconds you can skip them. It used to be that the countdown timer was in one corner, and would then turn into a cross to close the advert. However, recently crosses now appear in different corners, and sometimes blend in to say the least. It meant that initially I clicked the advert rather than the cross because I was on auto pilot, which obviously took me to the app purchase page. It's not an issue because most of the adverts are for free games, but I can certainly easily believe that other companies are using similar tactics in more direct ways.