Online game warning as East Ren parent receives huge bill

A parent — who asked not to be identified — contacted trading standards after receiving a hefty bill for her son’s online gaming.

The East Ren mum had bought £10 of credit, but the account was set up to allow additional purchases to be made with just one click.

By the 24 hour mark, the bill had reached £114 — only noticed when because of an email notification from Paypal.

The mother commented: “Although we are down over £100, it could have been thousands. The site allows up to £2,000 a day to be spent on one account. It’s an expensive lesson learned.”

Mark Smith, senior trading standards officer, explained: “Parents can be under extra pressure to spend money on entertaining their children.

“When setting up an online gaming account it’s very important to read the terms and conditions carefully before agreeing to them.

“Once you accept the terms and conditions, you have entered into a contract. If you then allow your children to use your account, you will have to pay for all their purchases.”

The advice from trading standards when dealing with any game or app is to check payment option settings, which may include setting a password for every purchase. Check whether there are any in-game purchases and play it with your child, to understand what they will see, then continue to check regularly as automatic updates could change the content.