Credit Card Charges By A Minor In Game

[nightfalls]

A bad parent is one who doesn't teach their kid the responsibility of money and lets their kids get access to their cards. I'm the same situation for asking for my parents to use their credit cards? I think you need a dictionary to check the definition of entitled/pompous.

Side note, like it or not, many people in their early 20's are at least still partially dependent on their parents. Whether this comes in the form of support via a credit card which the person is using to agreed-upon limits (if the kid isn't spoiled and spending it on w/e the fuck he wants) or other forms of support (help with X/Y types of payments) is irrelevant.

Obviously being on your own as early as possible is good (that doesn't happen in a day nor a month but rather in at least the 18 years you were growing up), but scenario above is not out of the ordinary anyway.

[Noctredors]

Usually the fraud department in credit card companies give you back your money. Just tell them it wasn't you who made those charges, and tell them it was your son. They may also have to speak to your son. If your son denies it, then request for an investigation. They can find out who it was, from where the payments came. It's not that much of a long process.

I really don't have much experience with credits cards, or fraud especially, but this is what i would do if i was in this situation. I would just straight up tell them it was my son, and not me, and that i wan't my money back.

[IRunSoFarAway]

How has he been buying these things for months unnoticed by you for so long? Do you not check your bank account activity AT LEAST once a week online?

Never give a child access to a credit card, especially if he/she doesn't understand what it is/does, other than "it let's me buy things I want". Past that, you shouldn't have a credit card, it doesn't sound like you're very responsible in that particular area, not to mention, credit cards have a history of just being all around terrible in every way, I, for one, will NEVER have a credit card(I do have a debit card), if I can't buy it here and now, then I'm not going to bother. A lot of people don't think when they use credit cards, to me, it just seems like they use it as a kind of invisible money, since it's just a pool of debt that you make a payment towards every month, this is why almost everyone with one is in heavy debt, living beyond their means.

If your kid wants to do anything online that requires money, use game cards, or prepaid cards of some kind, that's it, don't give him access to the invisible money that is a credit card, it'll never turn out well. It really isn't his responsibility, it's yours to educate him, and it doesn't sound like you did a very good job of it. He doesn't know your personal finances, he doesn't need to right now, but you should try and teach him about value and money, and when he's old enough, be open about your personal finances, there's no reason for a family not to share that information, especially if you're the one paying for his schooling/whatever else.

I know Apple has had to pay out recently for unauthorized charges that people's children made, it sounds like you're in a similar position, try to keep fighting for a refund if possible, if you're not successful in that, you'll pay it off eventually, and hopefully you'll learn from these mistakes.

[TheGravemind]

The terrible thing about this is that charge backs will still affect your credit score. : /

[dextersmith]

A bad parent is one who doesn't teach their kid the responsibility of money and lets their kids get access to their cards. I'm the same situation for asking for my parents to use their credit cards? I think you need a dictionary to check the definition of entitled/pompous.

I'm not sure why you'd think it's a situation where "mommy"'s card saves me as if I'm dependent or if I'm accumulating debt. Actually I don't even know how to respond, it seems to be personal insults with no actual merit to an argument.

I'd love to hear your situation where you're not depending on anyone or anything.

You're an ungrateful hypocrite for accusing people of being bad parents for letting kids access their credit card, while you're guilty of using your grandma's, mom's, and her husband's cards. Does that make you a bad child of 21?

I don't share your issues but my business is my own. Yours is publicly discussed as a result of you posting about it.
lol@asinine21yearoldchildren who "don't even know how to respond".

Edit: Since you brought up the subject of "personal insults", you too were guilty of dispensing personal insults when you accused the OP of being a bad parent. Who are you to judge? You still run to mommy for her credit card (and everyone else's for that matter). Stop spewing venom and shaming others for conduct you're guilty of.

[Heathy]

thats quite shit, but the problem is most definitely with your 12 yo, if you've had these discussions before you should take the next logical step, take him to the local cop shop and get them to show him the inside of a cell, its probably the only way your going to get anywhere, he doesn't seem to have much remorse for this considering 3k isn't chump change, surely he knew how much he was buying. I mean 3k thats stupidly high, surely he ran out of things to buy after the first k.

obviously block mmos, change your card and don't let him have the new one. you could probably try to charge back and such but you'll probably only end up fighting a legal battle where your basically suing your child, or if you don't then there is a chance EA would try to sue for fraud i'm not entirely sure on that one.

moral of the story, don't give your 12yo access to your debit/credit card details.

[Dawnseven]

UPDATE #2

Just to clarify two important things:

1. I did NOT give my son my credit card, nor did he steal it. I saved my credit card at SWTOR.com to pay his monthly subscription fee. That's it. SWTOR claims that saving the card on the account means it can be used for anything on the account so long as charges comes from your account (and you're not hacked) any and all charges are legitimate. All my son had to do was push the "Buy" button for cartel coins and they were his. He was not prompted for any kind of PIN or the CCV code from the back of card. Click. Done. He was wrong for clicking, don't get me wrong, but I really don't feel like he's some kind of felon in the making. If I'd given him my card (or the code) then I'd truly be a moron. If he'd stolen the card that would be different too, but I certainly am not going to press criminal charges against a 12 year old for pushing a button. (Also, I've mentioned it before but to repeat it ... there are no parental controls in SWTOR to cut off access to the store or restrict play time or anything like that.)

2. I've taught him about money, but the amount in question ($3,194) is/was apparently hard for him to conceptualize. He manages amounts like $10 in a birthday card and $20 at Christmas. $100 to him might as well be a million. It's just hard for him to fathom. He doesn't know my salary, or what our mortgage payment is, or how much my electric bill is, and what goes into our checking account each month and what comes out. He HAD (it's mine now) $200 in his savings account that he's been building since he was old enough to even hold a dollar bill so, I've taught him abount money, but at 12 he doesn't understand "big" money, how credit cards work, how to do a budget, etc. I honestly didn't think that was ready to come into play yet. I accept criticism for that.

As for the current status ... everything is still up in the air. Discover has accepted a dispute on all of the charges and has temporarily credited me back for everything "pending investigation" which they get 30 days to complete. I've drafted a letter for SWTOR that I'll send to tomorrow. My two main points are:

A) SWTOR's terms of service state:

2. Fee Based Services.

Some TOR Services require payment of a fee. You must have an Account and pay the subscription or other fees to participate in these activities. Information about subscription and other fees for TOR Services is published in the relevant pages at http://www.swtor.com/support.

Again, I didn't translate this into "if you give us a credit card you authorize everything forever."

B) The situation was exacerbated by the fact that no kind of verification was required.

The bottom line being that SWTOR can claim that the charges are "legitimate" because the account wasn't hacked, but I maintain that they were, nonetheless, unauthorized and made without my knowledge or consent. And now I wait and see what happens. In the meantime, if you asked my son if he wanted to play SWTOR he'd run screaming from the room. I've gotten more hugs in the last 2 days than I've gotten in the last 6 months, he's apologized to me at least three times a day (it's the first thing he says in the morning, and the last thing he says at night) and I'm working his little fanny off with the chores.

[Deleted]

hahaha, if he were my son I'd beat his stupid ass til he couldn't sit straight for a week

[Heathy]

well I personally hope everything works out for you, its quite a loss, usually gaming companies are quite understanding, if you tell them to disable his account and reclaim the lost goods, there must be some sort of compromise they can come to.

if discover charge back the funds which they should really handle because they sound relatively inept, then you shouldn't have to do much more. i guess it is still your fault even though that sounds nasty as hell no matter which way its said, it is possible to remove your card details from there, although as you said you had no knowledge of the ease in which you can just bill stuff without any checks. they should probably get a handle on that, perhaps there are parental controls in there somewhere that safe guard against these types of things, but at least you got your cash back, for now anyway. most games have parental controls even just enabling the default should block usage of the billing system. i thought that would be a given.

[Celista]

And this is why I am glad that I do not have children.

I'm sorry this happened to you, OP. Take SWTOR's advice, and I strongly suggest leaving some pamphlets on your kitchen table for various reform schools for your child to peruse at his leisure.

[nightfalls]

In the meantime, if you asked my son if he wanted to play SWTOR he'd run screaming from the room. I've gotten more hugs in the last 2 days than I've gotten in the last 6 months, he's apologized to me at least three times a day (it's the first thing he says in the morning, and the last thing he says at night) and I'm working his little fanny off with the chores.

It's great he's (at least hopefully) sincerely regretful. If he pays his price, puts in the work, and earns the money back, perhaps he can come out stronger as a whole later on.

[Borgmore]

Hahahaha..beat this kid for being dumb..then smack yourself around be being dumber.

[Deleted]

In the meantime, if you asked my son if he wanted to play SWTOR he'd run screaming from the room. I've gotten more hugs in the last 2 days than I've gotten in the last 6 months, he's apologized to me at least three times a day (it's the first thing he says in the morning, and the last thing he says at night) and I'm working his little fanny off with the chores.

It sounds like this situation has made you and your son closer, which regardless of the outcome will help you get through it. I hope it will work out in your favor, good luck!

[Deleted]

...And it seems the OP still hasn't learned, and the blame game continues. SWTOR is not your child's parent. You are responsible for your child, his actions, and your own finances. Blaming it off on SWTORs lack of parental controls is an easy cop out.

Wasting my breath I'm sure, as the OP seems to only want justification to feel bad and to make SWTOR the big bad guy.

[Rarespawn2012]

...And it seems the OP still hasn't learned, and the blame game continues. SWTOR is not your child's parent. You are responsible for your child, his actions, and your own finances. Blaming it off on SWTORs lack of parental controls is an easy cop out.

Wasting my breath I'm sure, as the OP seems to only want justification to feel bad and to make SWTOR the big bad guy.

Welcome to the modern progressive movement. Everyone is a victim and nobody is responsible for their decisions, actions or behavior. Why be responsible when it's easier to balme a company, corporation, inanimate object and have someone else support you?

[Orange Joe]

...And it seems the OP still hasn't learned, and the blame game continues. SWTOR is not your child's parent. You are responsible for your child, his actions, and your own finances. Blaming it off on SWTORs lack of parental controls is an easy cop out.

Wasting my breath I'm sure, as the OP seems to only want justification to feel bad and to make SWTOR the big bad guy.

Careful or you will get the victim blaming crowd in here.

i've learned that on these forums no one is responsible for their own actions. It is always someone else's fault.

[Terahertz]

Edited after reading OP's latest comment
So I take it you might get your money back then? If so, that's awesome. Seems like your kid is also starting to understand what he's done (haven't read your previous comments except for your last one) wrong and how big of a thing he's gotten him/you into.

[nightfalls]

Seems like your kid is also starting to understand what he's done (haven't read your previous comments except for your last one) wrong and how big of a thing he's gotten him/you into.

Possibly, personally I hope so and that he's not just pretending. Of course only he (and hopefully the OP) knows for sure though.