How is it possible for a child to use his parents' cell phone to make a purchase over the Internet valued at more than 1,000 euros? Surprisingly, this has happened in the United Kingdom, where a 9-year-old girl has bought a trip to Disneyland Paris After finding out your father's PayPal password.
It is not the first time that we echo this type of news, but it does not stop surprising us how easy it can sometimes be to make an online purchase and the ability of children to manage between so much application and social network. So, be very careful with leaving mobile phones at your fingertips!
I didn't know what I was doing, but booked a dream trip
The events occurred on August 24 when Susan, a nine-year-old British girl, He picked up his father's phone while he was sleeping and through Paypal made a reservation of tickets, hotel and tourist excursions to Disneyland Paris.
Total, the little girl spent more than 1,000 pounds (about 1,100 euros, approximately) between flights, accommodation, tickets to the theme park, trip on the Disneyland Express train and a VIP excursion to the Eiffel Tower. And all this to travel the next day.
His parents did not realize what happened until three days later, when they saw that the money had been withdrawn from the account. That was when, checking the phone's history, they found out what had happened and put their hands to their heads.
But Susan had never been aware of what she had done and even confessed that he did not know what the Eiffel Tower was or where Paris was. He simply started surfing the Internet and ended up on the German website Getyourguide, from where he booked the trip and on the low-cost airline Bravofly, from which he bought the tickets.
They ended up recovering the money
As soon as they discovered what happened, Susan's parents contacted her bank, Paypal and the tourist companies involved in an attempt to recover the money.
"We were completely open and honest with the bank and Paypal about what had happened. We never went on vacation. More than a thousand pounds is a lot of money for us and we just wanted to get it back" - Susan's mother tells the newspaper Mirror.
Luckily for this British family, Paypal decided to refund their money by describing what happened as a "friendly fraud", but this event has served as a lesson and since then they keep safe their mobile phones protected with passwords.
"Susan knows how to handle her own tablet very well, where Internet browsing is safe for her and she can't do things like this. But Ian's phone isn't, so from now on we'll keep him out of his way." - confesses his mother.
It is not the first time this happens
As we said at the beginning, it is not the first time this type of event occurs. Purchases of low amount, subscriptions to services or downloads of paid APP, are more common than we think among small Internet users.
And is that picking up the phone of mom or dad and start surfing the Internet without knowing what is being done can lead to more of a scare and leave shivering our pocket.
Last year, we echoed the news of a Youtuber boy from Torrevieja who had spent 1,000 euros on advertising on Google, and also recently we told you the case of a six-year-old girl who had used her mother's phone to buy toys worth 240 euros.
But perhaps the most striking case is the fine imposed on Amazon for purchases made by children without the authorization of their parents worth 70 million dollars.
Therefore, if we have our electronic devices within the reach of children, or we have decided by our own will to let them use them from time to time (always following the recommendations for safe use), we should not lose sight of this type of news and configure the smartphones and tablets so children can use them without risk.
Via The Mirror
In Xataka Mobile Amazon you will have to return 70 million dollars of in-app purchases made by children, How to configure a smartphone so that a child can use it without risks
In Babies and More A six-year-old girl uses her mother's fingerprint while she slept to buy toys for 240 euros
