Report: 17-year-old spent over $25,000 on Monopoly GO

A teenager has reportedly spent over $25,000 in microtransactions inside Monopoly GO through Apple’s App Store. While the game itself is free to play, people can purchase the in-game currency, and sadly for a parent here, they need to make the payments for those transactions and were looking for anything that can be done in this situation.

In a now deleted post on Reddit, the user claimed that their 17-year-old stepdaughter has made over 368 purchases inside the game without asking, costing them $25,000, and was looking for any solution to this matter. Naturally, this isn’t the first time something like this has occurred, and as per suggestions, there is nothing much to do other than accept the fact.

As per the comments, if the child had access to the parent's credit card unrestricted, the company isn’t liable for anything. “Not much you’d be able to do. My friends' son (who is also 17) did the exact same thing but not that much money. She was told since her son had access to her credit card, he was liable for all purchases,” one user told.

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In-app purchases, a controversial topic in mobile gaming

Free-to-play games across both mobile and PC are usually filled with microtransactions. Since the base game is free, these games are made in a way to entice players to spend money. Diablo Immortal was a big example of a game pushing monetary elements in the face of players. As for Monopoly GO, players can purchase dice rolls, sticker packs, and Monopoly Money.

There are various other people with similar complaints who have had their kids spend anywhere between $1,000 and $5,000, but the most recent case was quite extreme. Many of them even post how much they spent this year, despite not wanting to.

It also does not help that the elements in the game are paid to progress faster, which is essentially ‘winning’ for the person playing. However, a winner also dictates a loser, and in this particular case the parents are the ones losing.