Unauthorised transactions made by a minor.

Billyrusso745

Brace yourselves. We have a child in our care who is new to the country. He is 13 and does not speak english. We recently brought him an iphone. Fast forward a week later and upon checking my online banking i noticed my CC was overdrawn and multiple payments made to apple over the course of three days. 32 payments made to apple totalling £4600. I called my bank as i had no idea where this had come from and they said to call apple. After a few questions by an apple advisor and by mentioning the names of the people in my house it was made aware that the foster child had made these purchases. Apple denied the refund for 31/32 items and refunded a £38 purchase. They said due to the type of in app purchase nothing can be done. They also said everything checked out on their end as the card details were entered with the correct address. Btw i am not blaming Apple. I questioned my foster child with an interpreter and asked him what he done and he denies using my card and says he thought he was buying tokens. 

I have spoken to the bank and told them of the situation. It is now being investigated by the fraud team. I am overdrawn on my credit card with natwest and have no means to pay this amount of money. I am again not blaming natwest but what i do think is shocking is how natwest did not find that £3500 on one game in the space of three days is unusual and flag it up. Im not sure of how the security features work but i assume these sort of purchases would get flagged.

as it is on my credit card and the use of it was unauthorised will my bank be kind enough to refund me? Or partly refund me?
the child in care is uneducated and has no concept of money. I fee like he was tricked by someone as the in app purchases were coins sent to other people using the app.

please share your thought and advice. 

grandadgolfer

So you gave him your credit card or credit card details or allowed him to save those details on apple......if yes to any of these its your own fault

CKhalvashi

I think what has happened here is that you have put your card details into the phone to activate an app store, which has then allowed the purchase of tokens due to inadequate security settings being placed by you.

On this basis, I'd consider a refund unlikely. I don't use an Apple device, but I'd consider the messages perhaps were not clear enough, but that doesn't negate the above.

Carrot007

grandadgolfer said:

So you gave him your credit card or credit card details or allowed him to save those details on apple......if yes to any of these its your own fault

Or indeed gave him access to an apple account with the details already on without thinking about it.

Edi81

Sorry but too many of these have been in the newspapers/published online for this to be completely unheard of. 

If you did use your card to activate the Apple ID then you should be fully liable for the cost. 

Ms_Chocaholic

You asked us to share our thoughts and advice and I'm sorry if this is harsh but I'm unsure how giving a 13 year old unfettered access to the internet is safe, more so as this child was your foster child and not your own child.  Was this wise?

zagfles

Several similar cases have got refunds despite being told by most people here that they wouldn't. A couple of examples:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5909054/friends-daughter-has-spent-450-on-roblox-without-her-knowledge/p1

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4866661/xbox-live-child-purchases-anyone-successfully-claimed-money-back/p10

Billyrusso745

Jami74 said:

Yes, the stupidity of giving any child (never mind a foster child who does not speak English, is uneducated and has no concept of money) an iPhone, unsupervised internet access and access to an app store with a linked credit card is dumfounding. But what on earth do Apple sell for that sort of money? Are there really people out there happily spend £143 on in app purchases?

He had a iphone prior to coming to the UK. The screen was cracked so we thought to get one that wasnt cracked.. we take the phone off him at 10pm. We are not perfect and this isn't a parenting thread. 

Carrot007

Billyrusso745 said:

Jami74 said:

Yes, the stupidity of giving any child (never mind a foster child who does not speak English, is uneducated and has no concept of money) an iPhone, unsupervised internet access and access to an app store with a linked credit card is dumfounding. But what on earth do Apple sell for that sort of money? Are there really people out there happily spend £143 on in app purchases?

He had a iphone prior to coming to the UK. The screen was cracked so we thought to get one that wasnt cracked.. we take the phone off him at 10pm. We are not perfect and this isn't a parenting thread. 

And yet on the new one you logged him into your account and gave him access to spend whatever he wants?

That was 100% your choice.

theoretica

First thing seems to me to be to track down - if you haven't - where your card number is stored, how it got onto that phone and get it off.  Make very sure the hemorrhage has stopped.

smashinglynaive

Billyrusso745 said:

Jami74 said:

Yes, the stupidity of giving any child (never mind a foster child who does not speak English, is uneducated and has no concept of money) an iPhone, unsupervised internet access and access to an app store with a linked credit card is dumfounding. But what on earth do Apple sell for that sort of money? Are there really people out there happily spend £143 on in app purchases?

He had a iphone prior to coming to the UK. The screen was cracked so we thought to get one that wasnt cracked.. we take the phone off him at 10pm. We are not perfect and this isn't a parenting thread. 

No, and this isn't fraud either.

You gave a minor access to either your card or your Apple account and expect Apple to foot the bill for it?

Why?

You have the perpetrator right in front of you, why do you think Apple should pay for your child "not understanding money"? This is the cost of having a child, you need to start taking responsibility for it.

I once broke something (unintentionally) in a shop as a child. My parents did not expect the shop to foot the bill because I was only a child and "had no idea what the value of things were." Instead, they apologised and paid for a piece of carp that they didn't want or need.