Teenage girl spends parents' entire life savings of 51,000 on mobile gaming apps

A 13-year-old cleaned out her mum's bank account by buying mobile gaming goodies for herself and her friends then tried to hide the evidence - and her mum still hasn't got a full refund

Ciarn Daly Technology reporter

13:36, 12 Jun 2023

[A 13-year-old cleaned out her mum's bank account by buying mobile gaming goodies for herself and her friends then tried to hide the evidence - and her mum still hasn't got a full refund]

A 13-year-old girl blew tens of thousands of pounds on mobile gaming apps (Stock image)(Image: Getty Images)

A woman has been left devastated after finding out her daughter blew the family's life savingson mobile phone games.

Gong Yiwang said she was left with just pennies in her bank account when her 13-year-old daughter went on a 51,000 spending spree on mobile games.

Ms Yiwang received a phone call from her daughter's teachers at boarding school, who were concerned that the girl had become addicted to paid mobile games.

After looking at her bank balance, she realised her daughter had spent 13,300 ($16800) on game accounts and an additional 23,000 ($30,000) on in-game purchases.

[Asian couple arguing about money at home, husband and wife shouting in a hard quarrel by their many debts at home, financial family problems concept.]

Gong Yiwang says the family's life savings are gone (Stock image)(Image: Getty Images/iStockphoto)

The girl even paid for the gaming habits of at least 10 of her classmates, who the girl claimed would 'bother her all day' for the cash.

The teenager told a local news outlet: "If I didn't send it to them, they would bother me all day. If I told the teacher, I was afraid that the teacher would tell my parents and that my parents would be angry."

The girl claimed she didn't know where the money was coming from or how much she was spending, but that she had remembered her mother's banking password from an online purchase in the past. According to Elephant News, she also deleted chat records and financial statements to hide it from her parents.

[A 13-year-old cleaned out her mum's bank account by buying mobile gaming goodies for herself and her friends then tried to hide the evidence - and her mum still hasn't got a full refund]

Make sure your kids don't have your card details saved - or you could be next (Stock image)(Image: Getty Images)

Ms Yiwang said: "I never thought a 13-year-old girl could do this. I'm in a daze; my head feels like it's going to explode."

The mother says she has requested refunds from several different payment companies but still hasn't regained the full sums she lost.

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Sadly, kids blowing thousands of pounds on mobile games is nothing new. If you've got a budding gamer in the family, it's worth making sure that they don't have your card details saved on their deviceor memorised.

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