Parents + Kids + Games + Credit Card = Stupid Parents

Another story of a 8 year old girl racking up $1400.00 in smurf berries.

In the mobile game smurfs village you can purchase berries to make your village grow faster, but of course these cost actual money.

article-The app is free, but users are billed when they make these in-app purchases. Of course, your typical eight-year-old girl isn't going to know any better. Apple actually refunded the money after a story on the incident was reported in the Washington Post.

US regulators are now looking into how these in-app purchases work. The FCC has been asked to "assess current industry activities in this area to determine whether they constitute unfair or deceptive acts or practices."

Arkansas Senator Mark Pryor wrote the FTC saying "children, in particular, appear to be confused by in-app purchases, leaving parents with an unexpected bill for virtual smurfberries, snowflakes or other products. In the end, it would appear that these app companies may be the ones having all the fun and games at our children's expense." end article

Leave it to a Senator to blame the source and not the parents. I'm sorry, there are blockers in place to stop this sort of thing if the parent actually took the time to adjust them. Again, I don't blame the kid here, but the parents don't get no free pass.

This is simple and easy folks.....YOU WATCH YOUR KIDS!!.... YOU PAY ATTENTION TO WHAT THEY ARE DOING!!! If you do let them use a device, then make sure you know what you are giving them.

I give my kid access to the Internet and make him well aware of all the nasties on the Internet, even with the security blockers in place. Its simple, may take 5 min of your time and can save you and your family a big headache. Stop being so F'n lazy!