A 5-year-old child in the U.K. astonished and dismayed his parents after running up a bill of £1,710.43 (over $2,500) in just five minutes by making a sequence of expensive in-app purchases in an otherwise free iPad game. He was playing Zombie vs Ninja, with permission, and the Telegraph reports he quickly bought multiple add-ons like “333 keys” for £70 ($105) a pop. The family only found out about it the next day when iTunes receipts were emailed and the credit card company rang to ask about the transactions. Apple has agreed to refund the family for the mistake, but notes that in this situation the spending spree was triggered by the family itself: They voluntarily entered the passcode that’s designed to stop this sort of spending the moment before they handed the iPad to their son.
About Shelly Palmer
Shelly Palmer is the Professor of Advanced Media in Residence at Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and CEO of The Palmer Group, a consulting practice that helps Fortune 500 companies with technology, media and marketing. Named LinkedIn’s “Top Voice in Technology,” he covers tech and business for Good Day New York, is a regular commentator on CNN and writes a popular daily business blog. He's a bestselling author, and the creator of the popular, free online course, Generative AI for Execs. Follow @shellypalmer or visit shellypalmer.com.