Kid Racks Up $5,000 On Jurassic World Game, Dad Blames Apple For Everything

A seven-year-old boy racked up $5,767.55 in charges while playing the iPad game Jurassic World

Mohamed Shugaa’s seven-year-old racked up $5,767.55 worth of charges on in-app purchases through the game, Jurassic World. Shugaa owns a store and became aware of the charges when he tried to make a purchase from a supplier but was unable to do so. Upon calling his bank he learned of 65 transactions made to Apple between Dec. 13 and Dec. 18. Apparently his son not only knew the password to get onto the iPad itself, but also had memorized his father’s password – a surprise to his dad – and therefore was able to buy anything he damn well pleased.

While the story should end there with a commentary about how we all need to keep a closer eye on what our kids are doing on their iThings, the real story is how much venom Shugaa is spewing at Apple.

“I was so mad. I’m 32 years old, why would Apple think I would be spending thousands of pounds on buying dinosaurs and upgrading a game?” he told The Metro. He also told Crawley News, “Apple should take more responsibility. There should be more parental checks and they should follow up payments… They have details of my account so it would have been clear that I don’t spend that type of money on iTunes. It should have been flagged up.”

So let me get this straight. His son is allowed to use the iPad. His son has his password memorized. His son accrued the charges. And it’s Apple’s fault how?

Apple has millions of customers. They’re not able to watch every single transaction made on every single account nor should they have to. They’re not nannies. Shugaa is a grown ass man for crying out loud. And just because he’s a grown ass man doesn’t nullify the possibility that he himself was buying Dino Bucks to get some new kick ass dinosaurs. I know of much older men spending money on way dumber crap on their phones.

It comes down to personal responsibility and owning your actions in the incident. My husband and I are those people that bought their toddlers their own tablets for Christmas for a few reasons. One, because we’re tired of them using our iPad. Two, it hurts a lot less to step on a tablet than it does Legos. Three, because they’re growing up in a technologically advancing world and we want them to have as many advantages as they can. Despite the fact they’ll have their own tablet, that does not mean they’ll be able to do whatever the hell they want on it. Every parental control possible will be used to the strictest extent possible. The pass-code to log in to the iPad will be changed often. My Apple ID will be changed often.

Why?

Because I don’t trust kids. Not my kids, not anyone’s kids. The first thought every child has every morning upon opening their eyes is, “How can I ruin my parent’s lives today?” so you can bet your ass I’ll be doing everything I can to safeguard against them draining my bank account. That’s my job as a parent. To blame a company for the actions of your child is ludicrous. Own what happened and move on.

There is one bright side to the story, however. Despite the disgust Shugaa is spewing at Apple, they did agree to refund the money. All of it. He made the mistake and now it’s like it never happened. I guess it pays to shirk responsibility.