Parents Get Do-over for In-app Purchases by Kids

Apr 24, 2014 9:30 AM ET

Reuters

Original Source Reuters

Although Seana Mulcahy considers herself tech savvy, she was thrown a bit when her 8-year-old son Logan not once, but twice, ran up charges using apps downloaded from Apple Inc's online iTunes store.

The first time, he downloaded a free game and ended up spending about $60 before Mulcahy, 42, an internet  advertising and  marketing  executive from Andover, Massachusetts, received a notification of the charges a couple of days later.

Then a few weeks ago while using a gift card, Logan made six in-app purchases of tokens which far exceeded the gift card's value.

Yet Mulcahy says she closely monitors her son's Internet usage and specifically approved his use of those  games as well as only using his $20 gift card on the second go-round.

"If this is happening to me, clearly this is happening to other people who are clueless about what their kids are doing," Mulcahy says.

Continuting reading on Reuters