Debt in FarmVille: 12-Year-Old Spends $1400 on Facebook Game

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Debt in FarmVille: 12-Year-Old Spends $1400 on Facebook Game

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A 12-year-old British boy racked up almost $1,400 in real debt on FarmVille by using his mom’s credit card to buy virtual items in the online game over the course of 2 weeks.

He spent about $440 of his own money on the game after emptying his bank account. The remaining $950-worth of the items were charged to his mother’s credit card, who was horrified when she saw the bill.

FarmVille, launched in June 2009, is a popular game on Facebook in which players run a virtual farm. More than 20% of Facebook users play FarmVille.

While it is free to play, users can spend real money to buy virtual cash and progress more quickly.

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Mother Seeks Refund from FarmVille

When the mother read the bill, she confronted her son, who was “very shocked” when he found out how much money he had spent.

She then contacted HSBC, her credit card provider, to inquire about a refund. However, she was only eligible if she reported her son to the police.

Zynga, the game’s developer, also denied her a refund. The only advice they gave her was to enable password-protection on her home computer.

Zynga is worth $5 billion, largely attributed to the real money it brings in from FarmVille gamers.

HSBC Didn’t Warn Mother About FarmVille Charges

While she believes her son is entirely to blame for the misspending, she does feel some warning should have come from the bank.

An HSBC spokeswoman said she would have received a warning if her son used her credit card on gambling websites. They didn’t consider the transactions to be “unusual usage” of the card, even though almost $1,000 was spent in 2 weeks on the Facebook game.