Over the summer of 2020, a six-year-old spent over $16,000 in the
App Store, on in-app purchases for the iPad version of Sega's "Sonic Forces."
Jessica Johnson of Wilton, CT. discovered a series of withdrawals made from her credit card over a series of months, posted by Apple's in-app purchasing system. The purchases were made by her youngest son, George, who was repeatedly acquiring in-game currency for the game
Sonic Forces.
The spending spree, which totaled $16,293.10, took place over a series of months starting in July, when George started buying add-ons in the game, starting from a $1.99 pack to $99.99 bundles,
reports the
New York Post. On July 9, 25 charges were made to her account, valued cumulatively at over $2,500, over eight times the price of the
cheapest iPadcurrently available.
The transactions were initially thought to be fraud or a mistake by Johnson, who found it "almost impossible" to figure out that they originated from in-app purchases. After filing a fraud claim with Chase, she was then informed the charges were genuine, and was told to contact Apple.
appleinsider.com
