Child's bank account has been hacked, £150 with of Google play transactions

onthemend88

phillw said:

That was enough to convince the nice child of someone I know to come clean that they'd stolen their dads credit card from his wallet and hooked it up to their xbox account. It's unlikely anyone will do any investigation however.

I know if she had done it, this would have scared her into an admission but she has maintained her innocence because she is. 

Ceme3000

MovingForwards said:

@onthemend can you not block them in the NW app, put an alert on when spending goes above a certain amount etc? It's what I have as standard with mine.

It's not a bad idea though to keep online and offline transactions on different accounts.  It's such a pain when the card on your primary account is cancelled and you can't go to the cash point or do the weekly shop.

MovingForwards

Ceme3000 said:

MovingForwards said:

@onthemend can you not block them in the NW app, put an alert on when spending goes above a certain amount etc? It's what I have as standard with mine.

It's not a bad idea though to keep online and offline transactions on different accounts.  It's such a pain when the card on your primary account is cancelled and you can't go to the cash point or do the weekly shop.

Which is why adults should have at least one other current account with debit card, plus emergency change and up to £20 in notes at home. 

tehone

The other thing worth considering is to only top up the Google Play Store account with gift cards, so that sets a limit on the maximum that can be lost

DCFC79

tehone said:

The other thing worth considering is to only top up the Google Play Store account with gift cards, so that sets a limit on the maximum that can be lost

Good point and explain once its gone its gone and no more top ups until say 2 months time.

born_again

Silvertabby said:

Rather an odd situation - crooks don't normally hack an account just to play on-line game.

I wonder if the other (genuine) player input their own bank details incorrectly - and mistakenly input your daughter's instead?

But a very common one.
Sadly happens far too often. many times it is tied into games played. Could be something within the game that allows payment details to be acquired.

colsten

onthemend88 I hope you and your kids don't get too attached to Revolut as they have no FSCS protection. They're ok for small amounts of money but I wouldn't keep much in there. If they go bellies up, your money may be gone. Starling, Monzo, Natwest all come with the full £85k protection, which makes them a much safer bet.

Delighted to learn your daughter got all her money back. Well done, and let's hope it was a valuable lesson. 

niktheguru

Congrats on getting all your money back. Great result. I would too echo that maybe its better just to fund the google play store with gift cards you can get from the supermarket. That way you don't need to worry or get caught out if you forget to turn the card off.