12-Year-Old Blows $1,400 on Farmville

Uses mom's credit card to rack up debt on Facebook game

By Kevin Spak, Newser Staff

Posted Apr 8, 2010 12:34 PM CDT

(Newser) – A 12-year-old UK boy has earned himself the grounding of a lifetime by racking up roughly $1,400 in Farmville charges, first emptying some $450 from his own savings account, and then charging another $950 to his unwitting mother’s credit card—all in the space of about two weeks, reports Mashable. FarmVille won’t refund the money, though it did helpfully suggest the mother password protect her computer in the future.

Her credit card company, meanwhile, said it wouldn’t refund the money unless she reported her son to the police. They added that had the money been spent on a gambling site it would have raised a red flag, but Facebook credits pass unnoticed. But the mother says she doesn’t blame either company—she blames her son. “When I asked him why he did it, he said that they had brought out ‘good stuff that I wanted.’”

farmville nov 2009 (©Rusty Boxcars)

A FarmVille card is seen at 7-11. (©[177])

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12-Year-Old Blows $1,400 on Farmville

Uses mom's credit card to rack up debt on Facebook game

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12-Year-Old Blows $1,400 on Farmville

Uses mom's credit card to rack up debt on Facebook game

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More Newser Stories

No Pop in Zynga's IPO

Opens at $11 a share, then sinks below IPO price of $10

Farmville Maker Zynga's IPO Pegs Value at $7B

Company sets shares at $10

IPO Values Zynga at $9B

Farmville firm to sell 11.1% stake

Facebook Apps Actually Create Jobs—182K So Far

You waste time on them at work ... giving someone else a chance to work

Zynga's $1B IPO Mentions Facebook 200 Times

Filing makes clear that growth is tied to the site

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