Google charges from kids electronics

[kandb]

My son has a Nook and my daughter has a kindle fire, prior to those, we had I-pads. With the I-pads, I put in my credit card number but when they wanted to order something, it would ask for a password. Today I received my AmEx bill and there was $105 worth of charges on it for apps 9Google charges) which they know nothing about. They said they did not put in any password to get these apps. I am thinking they were probably playing and upgraded something without knowing it. Prior with the I-pads they would always ask me because it says "it costs 2.99", they said this has never come up with the new electronics. Does anyone know anything about this? I am not that "electronic" saavy. I called AmEx and they are going to put a block on google charges.

 

[Theaberdeenkid]

Yes I am systems engineer (not relevant just wanted to sound impressive)
I also went through this with my kids and the kindle and I stayed at a Holiday Inn last night.
My son charged $600 dollars so don't feel bad. First complain about the charges to google, they should reverse them. It was probably the nook since amazon natively won't allow you to any other app store but amazons. (unless you side load another browser)
What most likely happened, in case you didn't know, is that some games allow you to buy things within the game that cost real money. Its not uncommon but not well known. In my case it was a zoo game that allowed kids to buy bags of virtul peanuts to feed the virtual animals. The peanuts could be bought in denominations of $9.99, $19.99, $49.99 and $99.99.
Obviously any child's game that allows a child to buy a bag of peanuts at a touch of a button for $100 is a scam. Also the giveaway it's was a scam was the pricing scheme. I complained vigorously to amazon but they never removed the program fromm the app center.

 

[iheartdisney]

I don't know about the Nook but on the Kindle Fire the prices do come up when downloading new apps or movies, songs, etc. One thing you might need to check is making sure "in app purchasing" is disabled. This is when you are paying real cash for tokens in the game.
Also, since the Kindle is connected to my Amazon account it emails me every time DD downloads an app and i make sure the invoice says $0.00 was charged. That is how I knew the minute DD bought something without my permission. My DD10 bought "by accident" the Hunger Games soundtrack. And I took the Kindle away until she had done enough chores to pay me back the $7.99 it cost. I wanted to make sure that she knew it was real money not just a number on the screen, and it hasn't happened again.
If you are super concerned about it you can also remove your credit card and just add an Amazon GC for the Kindle and a B&N GC for the Nook.

 

[luvmy3]

My son has a Nook and my daughter has a kindle fire, prior to those, we had I-pads. With the I-pads, I put in my credit card number but when they wanted to order something, it would ask for a password. Today I received my AmEx bill and there was $105 worth of charges on it for apps 9Google charges) which they know nothing about. They said they did not put in any password to get these apps. I am thinking they were probably playing and upgraded something without knowing it. Prior with the I-pads they would always ask me because it says "it costs 2.99", they said this has never come up with the new electronics. Does anyone know anything about this? I am not that "electronic" saavy. I called AmEx and they are going to put a block on google charges.

Some apps have in app purchases and its possible they bought a "bag of coins" and didnt realize it was actual money being spent. My ds did that the first day he had his ipod. Luckily it was his itunes card he spent and not my money. He "claimed" he didnt know anything about too. I disabled that.
Do you have parental controls set on the devices? And why do you need a credit card on file for google? I'd be taking that off immediately. Get them google GCs that way they can't charge up your credit card anymore.

 

[BCmomma]

Our 5yr old DD was also doing the same thing on our Toshiba tablet, buying upgrades, etc through already-downloaded-apps. I remember one, she bought a $13 toothbrush for some pet kitty in her game!!!! Of course she had no idea. It at that time we just removed the credit card altogether from the tablet apps. $1 a couple of times was no big deal, but $13 for a fake toothbrush made us stop and think "d'oh, remove the credit card info" LOL

 

[Theaberdeenkid]

Our 5yr old DD was also doing the same thing on our Toshiba tablet, buying upgrades, etc through already-downloaded-apps. I remember one, she bought a $13 toothbrush for some pet kitty in her game!!!! Of course she had no idea. It at that time we just removed the credit card altogether from the tablet apps. $1 a couple of times was no big deal, but $13 for a fake toothbrush made us stop and think "d'oh, remove the credit card info" LOL

Try $99 for fake peanuts, makes you run and shout.

 

[elaine amj]

Yikes - I'm going to have to check into this and make sure. My kids are pretty good - but you just never know...

it hasn't happened yet, but I know we have no parental controls in their iPhones or Playbook.

 

[JeRmS]

Easy Peasy ... just remove the CC info from the accounts.

My kids play on my phone and both have Ipod Touch, anytime they try to download something that costs it asks for the CC info and they can not proceeed any further ... no if I could just stop them from downloading all the free stuff too!!!

 

[scard192]

I went into the settings as soon as I got my Kindle Fire and set it up (I think its under parental controls) so you can't download or buy anything without putting in a password. A bit of a pain every time I want a free app but at least I can be sure that my daughter isn't charging anything without my permission.

My sister's family has a Kindle too and hers is set up the same way. My 2.5 year old niece wanted to play a game on mine and told me "no pay money ones". too cute.

 

[kandb]

Thanks everyone for your help. I will go into the app store and erase my credit card info. I don't mind if they buy a $1 game, it's just these other charges that were up to $10. I wish I was better with technology, it would be much more helpful. The whole thing is really a scam when you think about it, how could fake peanuts be worth $99? Really ridiculous

 

[wenrob]

Yikes - I'm going to have to check into this and make sure. My kids are pretty good - but you just never know...

it hasn't happened yet, but I know we have no parental controls in their iPhones or Playbook.

I don't know what a Playbook is but you absolutely do have parental controls for the iPhone or any iDevice. They're very customizable too.
Got to settings>General>Restrictions-Scroll down to allowed content and turn off In App Purchases. You can also set a pass code. You can allow and disallow many, many things right in that little area. I don't keep a credit card on my account I use a gift card but I still like that layer of protection.

Thanks everyone for your help. I will go into the app store and erase my credit card info. I don't mind if they buy a $1 game, it's just these other charges that were up to $10. I wish I was better with technology, it would be much more helpful. The whole thing is really a scam when you think about it, how could fake peanuts be worth $99? Really ridiculous

You can disable in app purchases on the Kindle as well as require a password for any purchase made. My kids won't go get a Kindle for me but if you go to settings there is a parental control option there. It's not near as extensive a iDevices (you can set different things for different apps) but you can turn off in app purchases or require a password for every purchase.

 

[GS for life]

Careful with any Nintendo DS's as well. We had a very dramatic day at my house when the credit card had $80 on it from the DS. Needless to day, that device is gone and the Internet now disabled. The bad part was that it really wasn't an accident, just really bad decision making!

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

 

[nicks mom]

I got hit with $105 for virtual pet supplies...food, collars, toys and a doggy bed. Apple removed the charges and I locked the App Store up! If anyone needs any of the aforementioned supplies, I'll sell them for a reasonable price.

 

[GS for life]

I got hit with $105 for virtual pet supplies...food, collars, toys and a doggy bed. Apple removed the charges and I locked the App Store up! If anyone needs any of the aforementioned supplies, I'll sell them for a reasonable price.

Ours were actually games, which is better than virtual supplies. Nintendo can blacklist a credit card so it can never be used, and were actually very helpful in figuring out the charges. Someone in my house didn't readily admit their involvement or the "borrowing" of my credit card. That got almost ALL of her belongings in the attic and no souvenirs at WDW. We leave in 9 days!

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

 

[MSSANDRA]

Our then almost 5 year year old upgraded all his cars on Hill Climb for a FEE! I had no clue he even knew my password! I changed it and sometime later noticed a new game on my phone. When I confronted the suspect his answerer was, "Oh you are welcome!, I knew you would love it." Password changed again and a firm one sided conversation and now he asks but when I told him the other day to hand me the phone so I could put in the pass code, he assured me that was not necessary, he knew it and he DID....crazy.

 

[dhardawa]

I have step my google play account to always require a password, but it NEVER prompts for a password. Makes me so mad. I don't have a credit card on the account, but my 6 year old is constantly downloading things I don't want him to have because it doesn't ask for a password.

 

[Gracie09]

On my nook hd+ you set accounts up as a kid account and they can't access the Internet or buy anything out of the nook store

 

[dsneprincess]

Our then almost 5 year year old upgraded all his cars on Hill Climb for a FEE! I had no clue he even knew my password! I changed it and sometime later noticed a new game on my phone. When I confronted the suspect his answerer was, "Oh you are welcome!, I knew you would love it." Password changed again and a firm one sided conversation and now he asks but when I told him the other day to hand me the phone so I could put in the pass code, he assured me that was not necessary, he knew it and he DID....crazy.

My kid just tells me: "nice try Mom, but I hacked you again!". lOl it doesn't usually take him long, so I must be predictable!

 

[wenrob]

I have step my google play account to always require a password, but it NEVER prompts for a password. Makes me so mad. I don't have a credit card on the account, but my 6 year old is constantly downloading things I don't want him to have because it doesn't ask for a password.

You should be able to disable purchases on the device itself.

 

[CarlisleMom]

We back our tablets (Google Play) with gift cards. DD11 can only use that amount. This way I can limit how much she buys in a certain timeframe. She has used $1.00 since Christmas 2012! Free apps are the way she goes.