Glancing through her bank statement made Brisbane mother-of-two Belinda* realise there was a problem.

What had started with a few small amounts, as little as $1.60, for video game purchases, a song or an app “add on”, racked up almost unknowingly by her teenagers, was now totalling almost $300. Neither Belinda nor her children, aged 14 and 16, had realised how these costs were adding up.

“My eldest had asked for permission to purchase a game so he could play a certain video game with his friends but he and I both didn’t realise the game stored my credit card details and continued to charge certain fees after that initial purchase,” she says. “My youngest had used too much data on her mobile phone which is automatically direct-debited from my account.”

Belinda says it was disconcerting to discover how quickly these unexpected costs had multiplied and the apparent ease with which they were deducted from her account.

She is not alone. A survey undertaken by the not-for-profit Financial Basics Foundation earlier this year indicates that more than half of Australian parents of tweens (aged eight to 12) and teens have covered the bill for unapproved online spending for either mobile phone calls or data, in-game purchases, music, video streaming or apps.

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While most transactions were under $100 in some instances the debts incurred were much more. The most expensive purchase was an eye-watering $7000.

“Half the online overspending by tweens and teens was with their parents’ credit or debit card,” says Financial Basics Foundation chief executive Katrina Birch.

*Name has been changed.

– Georgina Dent

Read More: What to do When Teens and Tweens’ Online Habits Blow the Family Budget

Image by Marvin Meyer from Unsplash